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Frontispiece 

THE EXPLOSION FOLLOWED ALMOST IMMEDIATELY 



LITTLE SOLDIERS 
OF FRANCE 


A Book of Stories of the Heroic Sacrifices of Youthful 
Patriots of France with Uncle Sam’s 
Boys at the Front 


By 

RUTH ROYCE 


PHILADELPH lA 

HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY 


COPYEIGHT, 1921, BY HOWARD E. AlTEMUS. 


4 


m ~3 1321 
©CL 


A614046 




CONTENTS 


Chapteb Page 

I. Raymond the Courageous 11 

II. When the Guard was Changed 24 

III. The Boy Who Showed the Way 37 
TV . The Daughter of the Regiment 52 

V. Roger the Lion-Hearted 66 

yi. The Sacrifice of Celeste 76 

VII. Adolphe, the Miller’s Boy 87 

YIII. A Little Sister to the Brave . . 100 

IX. An Adventure in the Skies . . . 109 

X. ^^For Extraordinary Heroism” .121 

XI. All for France 134 

XII. The Boy Who Came Back . . . .143 
XIII. Elisabeth and Her German 

Mule 153 

Xiy. Corporal Luce, S. A 161 

XV. The Flag of Freedom 172 

XYI. The Little Hero of the Yesle .180 
XYII. Conclusion 190 












AUTHOK’S NOTE 

The author does not voucli for the au- 
thenticity of the stories set down in this 
little volume, but, having full confidence in 
the veracity of the participants in the great 
war who related them to her, she believes 
each one written here to be true. The 
stories have been selected from among 
many that the author has collected as best 
typifying the spirit of patriotism which is 
so deeply seated in the hearts of the little 
sons and daughters of France, as well as 
their loving devotion to the men of the 
American Expeditionary Forces in France. 

Kuth Koycb. 


/ 


\ 


INTKODUCTION 


When the American troops first set foot 
in France they were welcomed by the people 
with a warmth of feeling that has no paral- 
lel in history. No less deep and sincere 
was the welcome they received from the 
children of France, and, as these little pa- 
triots, at first shy, came to know the big 
^Wankees’^ with the smiling eyes, the hearts 
of the little ones went out to them in a wave 
of genuine affection. 

At first they loved the soldiers from 
America because they had come over to help 
drive out the enemies of beautiful France, 
but soon the children learned to love them 
for themselves. That love was fully re- 
ciprocated by Uncle Sam^s boys, and a 
strong bond of sympathy and understand- 
ing, early in the American occupation, grew 

7 


INTEODUCTION 


up between the children of France and the 
^^Yankee Doughboys/^ a bond that will last 
and grow more beautiful with the years. 

This love of soldiers for children and chil- 
dren for soldiers, General Foch character- 
ized as the sure indication of brave men. 
Of course, every American boy and girl al- 
ways has known that the American soldier 
is brave, and now the children all over the 
world know it. 

Almost from the very beginning French 
boys and girls showed their appreciation 
and affection by doing things for the boys 
from across the seas, and there was no 
prouder or happier child in France than he 
who had been able to do something to assist 
or please an American soldier. 

Out near the front, where the big guns 
were thundering day and night, this spirit 
was even more pronounced. It was the 
spirit of France, and America is France so 
far as these sturdy little patriots are con- 
cerned, and many were the deeds of heroism 
performed by these little men and women, 

8 


INTKODUCTION 


the Little Soldiers of France, for Poilu and 
^‘Yankee” alike. Patriotism, love of coun- 
try and its ideals are soul-deep in the child 
of France, virtues that should ever prove an 
inspiration to the boys and girls of America. 

Some of these deeds of heroism, and 
others showing the wonderful spirit of pa- 
triotism of the children of France, are com- 
ing out of the chaos of war, now that the end 
is here, through the soldiers who either 
witnessed the incidents or heard of them 
from the lips of their fellows. A few of the 
stories are here set down for our own little 
heroes and heroines, the boys and girls of 
America. 




9 


#. 


I 


LITTLE SOLDIERS OF FRANCE 


CHAPTEE I 


RAYMOND THE COURAGEOUS 


A REGIMENT of American Engineers liad 
appeared in the night about ten kilometers 
(six miles) to the westward of the little 
village of St. Verney, in the Marne sector. 

Little Eaymond knew, for he had been 
visiting a relative on a farm over there 
when the Americans arrived. They at once 
began digging trenches, though the lad 
could not understand why they should be 
doing that when there were no Germans 
within quite a few miles of the spot. He 
did not know that they were preparing for 
something that was to come in the near 
future. What he did know was that they 


11 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FEAKCE 


were a most likable lot of fellows, muck like 
Ms own beloved Poilus, only bigger and 
more ligbt-bearted. Their attempts to talk 
with him in French made Kaymond laugh, 
and his English excited the Americans to 
laughter, so that both sides were in great 
good humor. 

The ^^Yankees’’ filled him up from their 
mess kits at noon, and later in the day the 
little Frenchman started back toward the 
village, full of all that he had seen that day 
and talking to himself about the wonderful 
Americans. He had promised to come 
again and to bring with him any informa- 
tion about the Germans that he might be 
able to pick up. 

Eaymond’s home was a full mile to the 
eastward of the village, on a main road, so 
that nearly all the traffic from the eastward 
passed his door. He had been home but a 
few minutes that afternoon when he saw, 
swinging toward him with the peculiar 
hitching step that was now so familiar to 
him, a large body of German infantry. 


12 


KAYMOKD THE COUKAGEOUS 


Bodies!’’ exclaimed the lad. 
wonder if they are here to fight the Amer- 
icans?” He frowned, and, leaning against 
a tree in the yard, watched the approach of 
the enemy. Just before the head of the line 
reached him it halted and an officer strode 
along, halting at the gate. 

He ordered Kaymond to come to him, 
which the boy did, strolling along leisurely 
with both hands in his trousers pockets. 
Kaymond was thinking rapidly and trying 
to decide upon something that already was 
assuming shape in the back of his head, so 
to speak. 

^^Have you seen any of the cowardly 
Americans hereabouts?” demanded the offi- 
cer, a lieutenant. 

Why do you ask?” 
have information that they have 
been here.” 

‘There are none here, but there are some 
not so very far from here,” replied the boy 
boldly. “You had better look out.” 

The lieutenant was instantly on the alert. 


13 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FEANCE 


‘^WLere? Speak before I run my saber 
through you !” 

^‘Eaymond does not fear your saber, and 
he chooses not to speak until he knows why 
you are so eager to know about the Amer- 
icans.’’ 

The lieutenant stretched forth a hand and, 
grasping the boy by the collar, fairly 
dragged him from the yard and back to 
where the colonel of the regiment was wait- 
ing impatiently for the return of the lieu- 
tenant. The young officer repeated what 
Eaymond had said, adding in a lower voice, 
^‘The Frenchman is stupid, but he may speak 
the truth.” 

^^We wish to surrender to the Americans. 
We have had enough of war,” declared the 
colonel, assuming an air of weariness, after 
he and the lieutenant had conversed by. 
themselves for a few moments. ‘Tf you 
will tell us where the Americans are and 
how you know, you will be doing France a 
service. Surely you would like to see the 
Germans surrender?” 


14 


KAYMOXD THE COUEAGEOUS 


^^All of them/’ was the brief answer. “I 
will take yon to them. Come !” 

^^Not so fast. First we must rest and eat. 
We shall tell you when we are ready, and 
you shall remain with us until then.” 

Eaymond nodded his head stupidly and, 
strolling to one side of the road, threw him- 
self down on the grass and dozed off to 
sleep. That is, he apparently went to sleep, 
but as a matter of fact he was very much 
awake and on the alert, while his little mind 
was actively at work on the great plan that 
already had developed there. 

Darkness had fallen when finally the 
young lieutenant shook him, and demanded 
to know where the Americans were en- 
camped. To this Eaymond replied that 
they were encamped near a ridge about ten 
kilometers to the westward of the village, 
but that he could not describe to the Ger- 
mans the exact spot. 

Finally the Germans, convinced that he 
was too stupid to mislead any one, decided 
to let him lead the way, and, after telling 


15 


LITTLE SOLDIERS OF FRA:N^CE 


Mm that at the least sign of treachery he 
would be shot without au iustaut^s delay, 
the boy was ordered to lead them ou with- 
out passing through the village. This Ray- 
mond did, taking to the fields until the 
village had been left beMnd, then returning 
to the highway. 

Raymond’s plan was a bold one. He pro- 
posed, when near enough, to give the Amer- 
ican Engineers warning, knowing very well 
that such action on his part would bring 
swift punishment from the Huns. 

Fate arranged a better plan for him. A 
Boche in the ranks ordered the boy to carry 
his pack and rifie for him, and promptly 
shifted the equipment to the shoulders of 
little Raymond. The lad, stooped well 
over, staggered under the heavy load, to the 
keen delight of the soldiers nearest to him. 
He had straggled a little and was a dozen 
yards or more back of the head of the line 
when the load was shifted to his back, but 
there was little need for him to be further 
forward, as the colonel had just been told 

16 


KAYMOND THE COURAGEOUS 


by the boy that tbe Engineers were en- 
camped at tbe base of a small Mil to the left 
of where the roads forked. Raymond was 
right in his direction except for the fact 
that the Americans were located at the 
right of the fork instead of the left. 

The time for the alarm was not yet at 
hand and so Raymond plodded on, until, 
after a little, he was called for to step up to 
the head of the line, which he did. The 
colonel, when he saw that the lad was carry- 
ing a pack and a soldier’s rifle, uttered a 
sharp command in German, whereat the 
soldier to whom the equipment belonged 
stepped forward. He was berated severely. 
It was a violation of discipline and he was 
ordered to shoulder his pack and rifle. 

Raymond was very awkward in unlimber- 
ing himself. The soldier to whom the rifle 
belonged made a savage grab for it. 

^^Let go !” yelled Raymond, struggling for 
possession of the weapon. ^Tt isn’t your 
gun.” 

The Boche struck savagely at him. Ray- 


Z— Little Soldiers of France. 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FKANCE 


mond gave the weapon a jerk and there fol- 
lowed a flash and a loud report. Two more 
shots were fired from the rifie as he pulled 
the trigger in quick succession, then he re- 
leased his hold on the weapon, protesting 
loudly that he had been told to hold it and 
not let it get out of his hands. 

For the next few moments there was 
plenty of excitement in the Hun regiment, 
all of it revolving about the little French 
peasant boy. He was mauled and kicked 
by the irate officers until his body was black 
and blue. 

^Tf I thought you did that on purpose I 
would shoot you where you stand!’’ raged 
the German colonel. hope the Amer- 
icans did not hear it, for if they did we can- 
not hope to surprise them.” 

^The Americans won’t mind being 
warned that you are coming, so long as you 
are going to surrender and — ” 

^^Surrender?” roared the commanding 
officer. ^^Who said we were — ” He checked 
himself as he recalled what the boy had been 

18 


KAYMOIS^D THE COUKAGEOUS 


told as tlie reason for wishing to find the 
regiment of Engineers. ‘Tut that boy un- 
der guard, and if he makes a loud sound, 
shoot him!” 

Kaymond came to the conclusion that he 
was in for a bad time, and he made up his 
mind to slink away the moment he was cer- 
tain that the Americans had discovered the 
presence of the German regiment. 

“Oh !” exclaimed Eaymond as the muzzle 
of a revolver was pressed against his stom- 
ach. “Wha — at — ” 

“You lie ! There are no Americans 
here !” snarled a lieutenant. 

“I — I did not say there were. I — I — the 
Americans are yonder where you can see 
that small hill against the sky. You turn 
when you get to the crossroads. You will 
find the Americans, do not worry, for they 
will be so glad to have you come and sur- 
render, Herr Lieutenant — ” 

“Silence!” 

They reached the crossroads. 

“Turn left. You Avill find them yonder 


19 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FEANCE 


by the little bill,” shouted the lad at the top 
of his voice. 

A blow on the head from the butt of a re- 
volver silenced Eaymond, and he collapsed 
without a word. Iso one paid any further 
heed to him, and while the Hun regiment 
waited, scouts were sent ahead to definitely 
locate the enemy. The scouts were gone 
quite a time, and when they returned they 
were just in time to meet a burst of machine- 
gun and rifie fire that was suddenly sprayed 
upon them by the Americans. 

Men went down by scores as the rat-tat- 
tat of the machine guns grew in volume. 
The Engineers had heard the shots from the 
rifie fired by little Eaymond, and scouts 
sent out to investigate reported that a regi- 
ment of German infantry was approaching. 
There was plenty of time for the American 
colonel to dispose his forces, which he did 
by secreting the machine guns and their 
crews behind bushes, their weapons cover- 
ing the crossroads at the junction of which 
the Germans were to turn. 


20 


KAYMOND THE COURAGEOUS 


The battle lasted but a few moments, and 
when it ended the Germans who were still 
alive and unwounded were retreating as 
fast as their legs would carry them. 

One of the first of the casualties to be 
picked up was little Raymond. He was 
conscious, but was found to be seriously 
wounded in one leg. He was removed to an 
emergency station, where it was found that 
the leg would have to be amputated, and it 
was there that he was recognized as the boy 
who had visited the Engineers the day be- 
fore. 

^^So, you were a spy, eh?’’ said a lieuten- 
ant whose eyes were full of compassion for 
the little sufferer. ^Ts it possible that you, 
a French lad, could betray your country and 
your friends, the Americans? I cannot be- 
lieve it, boy.” 

‘‘Betray my country?” Raymond 
struggled to a sitting position. “Betray 
my beloved Americans?” His eyes were 
blazing and his chest was heaving. “My 
Officer, Raymond is a Frenchman. No 


21 


LITTLE SOLDIERS OF FRANCE 


Frencliinan is a traitor. Did I not say tLat 
I should come back when there was any- 
thing that I could tell you? I did more 
than that — I came back and brought with 
me a whole regiment of Boches for the 
Americans to punish. Did I not send you a 
signal that we were coming?” 

The officer, instantly sensing that there 
was more to this affair than he had thought, 
questioned Raymond while the surgeons 
were digging away at his wounds. The boy 
related the story of his leading the German 
regiment to the Americans, telling the lieu- 
tenant that when they tried to take the 
rifle from him he had flred it off three times, 
feeling certain that the Americans would 
understand that it was a signal and investi- 
gate. He said that he had intended to run 
away before the shooting began, but that 
the blow on his head had put him to sleep, 
and that he was Anally awakened by a shot 
in his leg from the Are of an American ma- 
chine gun. 

That was all, but it was enough. 


22 


EAYMOND THE COUEAGEOUS 


Eaymond’s leg was removed two days 
later, and for weeks lie lay in a hospital far 
back of the fighting lines. In the meantime 
the Engineers had decided that something 
must be done by the regiment for the boy. 
After the parents were communicated with, 
and their permission obtained, a purse of 
something more than two thousand dollars 
was made up and deposited in a Paris bank 
with instructions that it was to be devoted 
to the education of the little hero, and that if 
any more money were needed to care for 
him, give him a new limb and place him in a 
way to make a good living for the rest of his 
life, the Engineers had it. 

He had given a precious limb for them 
and for France, and had offered his life. 
What greater sacrifices could a little 
French lad make for his beloved ‘^Yankee 
Doughboys’’? 


23 


CHAPTEK II 


WHEN THE GUARD WAS CHANGED 


Cecile and Alice Minchon were sisters, 
brave, patriotic little Frencb girls, living in 
a fairly comfortable bouse in tbe village of 
Drouart, which at the time was in the 
possession of the Germans. So was the 
Minchon home in the possession of the Ger- 
mans. 

There being plenty of room in the house, 
a German general had invited himself to 
make it his headquarters, and the two sis- 
ters and their mother had their choice of liv- 
ing in the kitchen or of going out to sleep in 
the garden. They chose the kitchen, which, 
though small for cooking and sleeping, was 
dry when the rain was falling. 

Staff men were continually coming and 
going, and there was scarcely a time when 


24 


WHEN THE GUAKD WAS CHANGED 


there were not half a dozen or more of them 
in the house. Sometimes they remained a 
good part of the night in consultation, and 
it was seldom that the two children did not 
overhear all that was being said and done 
in the generaPs office on the ground floor of 
the house. 

At the time the incidents related in this 
story occurred, the German lines were about 
six kilometers to the west of the village, 
and the American lines a short distance fur- 
ther on. 

One night there was more than ordinary 
activity at the German headquarters, be- 
ginning at a late hour, and though Cecile 
and Alice had gone to bed, Cecile was awak- 
ened by the noise. Getting up, she went to 
the door to listen. What she heard flred her 
with patriotic fervor and determination. 

The girl awakened her sister. 

^^Alice, there is work for us to do,” she 
whispered. ^The Germans have planned a 
terrible thing and the Americans are in dan- 
ger. I have heard it all.” 


25 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FEANCE 


^‘Yes, yes, what is it?” questioned Alice 
eagerly. 

don’t quite understand, but it seems 
that they have left something that will blow 
up the Americans in their trenches. Mines, 
I think they said, and they are going to fire 
them at four o’clock to-morrow morning. 
Think of it, Alice, hundreds of them will be 
killed!” 

^Ts it not terrible, Cecile? What can we 
do to save them?” 

^We must somehow manage to get word 
to the good Americans who have come to 
drive the Germans out and free our beau- 
tiful France.” 

^Wes, but how can we two girls do a thing 
like that?” 

^There is but one way, we must carry the 
word ourselves.” 

am ready, Cecile.” The little girl be- 
gan hurriedly to dress. Cecile already was 
putting on her clothes, and all this time the 
mother slept on soundly. ^^Shall we tell 
mother?” 


26 


WHEN THE GUAKD WAS CHANGED 


^^Yes, I will do that. Listen carefully to 
what I have to say. If I can get into the 
ravine just beyond the village I know I 
shall be able to reach the American lines. 
There are no Boches in the ravine, but the 
ridges on either side are lined with German 
machine guns. I have learned that much 
from the officers in the other room. Their 
airmen have told them that on the morrow 
the Americans will be reinforced, that re- 
inforcements are coming up even now and 
will reach the lines some time to-morrow 
morning. At four o’clock exactly the guard 
in the American trenches is to be changed, 
and for a few minutes the trenches will be 
full of brave Americans. It is then that 
the cowardly Boches are going to blow them 
up.” 

^They shall not !” breathed Alice passion- 
ately. 

“We shall both go, I through the ravine 
and you to the north.” 

“Not together?” exclaimed Alice. 

“No, it would not be well for us to do so. 


27 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FRANCE 


If we go by separate ways it may come to 
pass that one of us will succeed in reaching 
the American lines. You are not afraid, 
my sweet sister?’’ 

^‘Why should I fear, Cecile? It is for 
France and for America. What are our 
two lives when compared with those of hun- 
dreds of brave Americans?” 

‘^That is as I think, my sister. You will 
go to the right until you reach the Verney 
wood, through which we have passed so 
many times and that we both love so well. 
There you will follow the path that leads to 
Verney. There are Boches in the wood and 
you will have to be careful. Be watchful, 
and, if you should perchance be caught, re- 
member you have been to Verney to visit 
our aunt and that in returning you have 
lost your way. The way by the ravine is 
more dangerous, so I, being older than you, 
shall take that route.” 

Now, being fully dressed, Cecile gently 
awakened her mother, and, with arms about 
the mother’s neck, whispered to her the full 


28 


WHEN THE GUAKD WAS CHANGED 


story of what she had heard and what she 
and Alice proposed to try to do. 

For a full moment the mother did not 
speak. 

^Tt is for France/’ she murmured, and 
bade them go. That was their parting, but 
after the two girls had quietly slipped out 
through the back door leading into the gar- 
den, the French mother wept silently. 

There was no moon and the night was 
dark, although the stars were shining, and 
there appeared to be no activity anywhere 
about them, though both girls knew that 
thousands of German soldiers were keeping 
watch a short distance beyond the village. 
Cecile gave her younger sister final direc- 
tions, whispering her caution and urging 
little Alice to be brave and to keep her 
head. Alice promised that, come what 
might, she would not forget that she was a 
French girl. 

They separated after a tight embrace, 
cheek against cheek, each turning and start- 
ing away on her mission without another 

29 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FEANCE 


word. They were almost instantly swal- 
lowed up in the darkness of the night. 

Cecile had some difficulty in getting to the 
head of the ravine, as she found that many 
Germans were abroad, and was obliged to 
make a wide detour to avoid them. It was 
a full hour after her start that she suc- 
ceeded in getting into the ravine, the en- 
trance to which was guarded by a single 
sentry, who was pacing up and down and 
whom she easily avoided. 

Although she was positive that she should 
encounter no Germans in the ravine, the 
girl proceeded with the utmost caution. 

The end of the ravine was reached at 
last, but there not a sound was to be heard. 
Xor was the end of the ravine guarded. On 
the ridges, however, keen eyes were search- 
ing the ground in all directions and machine 
guns were trained on the opening, perhaps 
with the expectation that the Americans 
would walk blindly into the trap, but the 
Americans had no intention of doing any- 
thing of the sort. They knew all about this 


30 


WHEN THE GUAKD WAS CHANGED 


ravine and that it was no place for a 
^^Yankee.’’ 

Cecile after a long wait, with every fac- 
ulty on the alert, began slowly to crawl out 
under the shrubbery, which effectively cov- 
ered her body and her movements. The 
leaves rustled over her ever so little in the 
slight breeze. There were several acres of 
this shrubbery, scrub oak and wild berry 
bushes, with here and there an open space 
where fires had burned away the dwarfed 
growth or else stripped the trunks of their 
foliage. 

Every moment carried the girl further 
away from the danger spot. She was now 
directly between the lines, and should shoot- 
ing begin she knew that she would be in 
great peril. The little patriot prayed that 
she might be spared to reach the American 
lines and warn them of their danger. 

Some distance in front of these lines was 
an open space entirely bare of cover, and 
across this Cecile started, now walking in- 
stead of crawling, but well crouched over. 


31 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FEA^^^CE 


so that her form might not be outlined 
against the distant sky. As it was, she was 
discovered — at least she believed she must 
have been — for suddenly the rat-tat-tat of 
machine-gun fire was heard to the rear of 
her, and she heard bullets snipping over 
head. The girl threw herself fiat on the 
ground and lay there, trembling a little, for 
now from the American lines machine guns 
were adding their voices to the deadly 
racket. 

All at once Cecile thought she saw the sky 
lighting up ever so little in the east. Filled 
with alarm lest she be too late, she sprang 
up and, bending as low as possible, ran 
with all speed toward the American lines, 
machine-gun bullets snipping all around 
her. Her mind was no longer on this, but 
every fiber of her being was centered on 
reaching the Americans in time to save 
them. 

Over there she had already been discov- 
ered, and, though she was unaware of the 
fact, a machine gun was trained directly on 

32 


WHEN THE GUAED WAS CHANGED 


her, its gunner in firing position liglitly; 
fingering the trigger of tlie weapon. 

^^DonT shoot cried the girl. 

She stumbled as, in the darkness, her foot 
caught on the low parapet of the trench, and 
little Cecile fell over into the arms of a 
sentry. 

^^Quick, lead me to your commander!’^ 
she panted. 

^What is it you wish?’^ demanded the 
steady voice of a young second lieutenant. 

^That I can tell only to your commander. 
What I have to say is a matter of life and 
death. Please, what time is it?’’ 

^^Half past three.” 

^Dnly thirty minutes left! Oh, hurry, 
my Officer!” 

The young officer, now impressed with her 
almost agonized earnestness, led Cecile to 
his captain, to whom the girl poured out her 
story in a fiood of words. A few quick ques- 
tions, and the captain, galvanized into in- 
stant activity, called up his commanding 
officer. Orders were passed quietly, rap- 


Z— Little Soldiers of France. 


LITTLE SOLDIERS OF FRANCE 


idly, and the Americans began moving out 
of the front trench, the new guard having 
been halted just as they were starting for- 
ward for the firing line. 

Cecile was gathered up in the arms of the 
captain and quickly borne from the now 
dangerous place. 

^^My sister she cried out suddenly. 
^^Has she reached the lines 

^We have not seen her.” 

Cecile uttered a little moan, then lay 
quietly in the strong arms of the captain 
until they had reached a safe place back of 
the lines, where she was turned over to an 
ambulance corps, with instructions to guard 
her carefully and keep her with them until 
further orders. 

The officers were not at all positive as to 
the facts, for they had carefully examined 
the deserted German trenches before taking 
possession of them and made tests to find 
out if they had been mined, but nothing was 
found. It now lacked but ten minutes of 
the hour and every one was keyed up to a 

34 


WHEN THE GUAEH WAS CHANGED 


liigh tension. An officer stood near the am- 
bulance in which the girl was sitting, hand 
up, eyes fixed on the illuminated dial of his 
watch. 

^^Four o’clock,’’ he announced. 

^^Four o’clock,” ran from lip to lip. There 
was a moment of deep silence, then the earth 
rocked under their feet and the heavens 
seemed to split wide open. A fiash of fiame 
shot into the air, followed by clouds of dirt 
that shut out the stars, already dim with 
the coming of the day. 

Artillery somewhere in the rear of the 
American lines opened fire before the dirt 
cloud had reached the earth, and the Amer- 
icans, waiting until the upheaval had 
settled, charged straight across the plain. 
Behind them came the reinforcements that 
had just reached the scene, and a lively 
battle was on. All that day it raged, and 
when night fell the Americans not only were 
in possession of the German lines, but they 
had driven the Huns from Drouart. 

The American losses were small, but the 


35 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FEANCE 


Germans, so taken by surprise, lost heavily 
in killed and wounded. That night little 
Cecile was restored to her home, now freed 
of the German general and his staff, but 
Alice was not with them. No trace of her 
was found, though the Americans searched 
every foot of the ground that she was sup- 
posed to have gone over, and it was not until 
after the armistice between the Allies and 
the Germans was signed that word of her 
was obtained. She was a prisoner in Ger- 
many, accused of being a spy and in peril of 
being shot as such, but saved by the stop- 
ping of the war. 

The victory of the American troops and 
the saving of many lives had been made pos- 
sible by the heroism of Cecile Minchon, and 
a few weeks later she received a letter from 
the commander of the American forces in 
France, thanking her for the splendid serv- 
ice she had rendered to America and to 
France. 


36 


CHAPTEK III 


THE BOY WHO SHOWED THE WAY 


Willy was a peasant farm-boy. He bad 
not seen much of the world, nor even of his 
own native land. It was bred in him to 
love France and all things French. Noth- 
ing else was worth while — not until the 
Americans came, when a new race and a 
new world were revealed to him. 

Willy one day visited a place where there 
were many American soldiers, and, next to 
his own Poilus, he decided that the Ameri- 
cans were the most wonderful fellows in the 
world. 

^^And they are so brave ! I think they can 
fight almost as well as the French,” he said, 
in describing his visit, to one of his own 
people. 

Any men who could throw Boche ^^potato 
37 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FEANCE 


masliers’’ (German hand grenades) about 
with an utter disregard of their lives, play 
ball with their own deadly bombs, and light 
their pipes with cordite, were entitled to the 
respect and admiration of Willy Eenat, and 
got it. His loyalty to and reverence for the 
American soldier were now fully as great 
as that which he held for the Poilus of 
France. He thought of both as he worked 
in the fields, driving a team of oxen plowing 
up the ground for the crops, for his father 
had gone to war and there were none to till 
the little farm except Willy and his mother. 

There came a time, however, when work- 
ing in the fields was not so pleasant as it 
once had been, when big shells from the Ger- 
man artillery and from the American artil- 
lery were almost constantly sailing over the 
fields, with terrifying sounds. There were 
other things, too, that disturbed the tenor 
of his life. Now and then Hun batteries 
would register on him as he worked in the 
fields, by dropping a shell on the field. Oc- 
casionally one would come very close to 


38 


THE BOY WHO SHOWED THE WAY 


him, and sometimes a playful German air- 
man would drop a bomb near him. 

All this was not good for Willy’s potato 
field. It left big holes in the ground and 
made the little peasant boy very angry. 

^Wait!” he cried one day when a fiier 
had dropped a bomb so close that both oxen 
were knocked down. ^Wait until the brave 
Americans get after you. You will then 
throw no more bombs.” 

Despite all these annoyances the lad 
finally got his potatoes planted, and then 
along came one of the German armies, or 
part of one — ^Willy did not know which — 
and made themselves thoroughly at home. 
That was the last of the potato field so far 
as the lad’s crop was concerned, for it was 
utterly ruined the first day of the German 
occupation. 

Willy was interested in the way the Huns 
disposed of themselves. Great numbers of 
them were stationed in a huge grove of trees 
where their supplies were placed. In the 
potato field they used the shell holes that 

39 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FEANCE 


their artillery and their air bombs had 
made, for the openings to their dugouts. 
In an adjoining field where there was grass, 
and last year’s hay in stacks, they made 
their lounging place in the evening when 
they came out from the woods or from their 
holes in the ground. 

Every day American and French air- 
planes passed above the Germans trying to 
find out what the enemy was doing there. 
The airmen suspected that the vital spot 
was the big grove, and it was there that the 
Americans fired their shells every night. 
This was an added reason why the Boches 
were fond of the grassy field. 

It was all very interesting to the peasant 
boy, though he became impatient that the 
airmen did not bomb the field. 

^The field is such fine picking. I wish I 
might tell the Americans to drop some ^eggs’ 
on it,” he told his mother. | 

This was not possible, for the Germans 
had established a line of troops between the 
place where Willy lived and the American 


40 


THE BOY WHO SHOWED THE WAY 


lines. He was living in territory held by 
the Germans, and they had helped them- 
selves to everything that was of use to them. 
Willy lost his team of oxen the first day. 
The Huns ate both of them. They stole the 
metal of the plow, and broke up the plow’s 
wooden beam for firewood, so that all that 
was left of the outfit was Willy and the 
yoke that the oxen had worn. 

The little fellow was raging inwardly, 
and the longer he brooded over what the 
Huns had done the more he raged. That 
did him no good and clouded his better judg- 
ment, just as his mother warned him would 
be the case. 

He pondered over the problem of how to 
show the Americans where the Boche might 
be reached, the better part of a night. 
Next day he went out among the Germans 
to look about, which he was permitted to do 
without much restriction. He frequently 
ran messages for the officers, always de- 
manding pay for doing so, sometimes getting 
it, but oftener getting a kick as his reward. 


41 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FEAISTCE 


That was all the reward he received on this 
particular day, so far as the enemy was 
concerned, but he won a greater reward 
than money, as he reasoned it out. 

^Willy will show the Boches to-night,” he 
chuckled. 

The boy went home in great good humor, 
but said nothing to his mother of the plan he 
had in mind. After finishing what feAV 
chores there were for him to do, he left the 
house, saying that he would not be back un- 
til late because he had work to attend to. 

Willy strolled directly to the grassy field, 
and, after sauntering about in the early 
part of the evening, observing the stacks of 
hay, he burrowed his way into a stack and 
snuggled down to think and to wait. 
Horses were all around the stack, munching 
greedily at the fodder, while on the top of 
the stack were all the Huns that could 
crowd there, all fast asleep. It was a soft 
and comfortable bed even if there were no 
roof over it. 

The American air raiders ordinarily came 
42 


THE BOY WHO SHOWED THE WAY 


over about eleven o^clock on their first raid, 
and the next — ^they ordinarily made two 
and sometimes three raids in a night — 
somewhere between two and three o’clock 
in the morning. There was no moon now, 
which made bombing difficult. The bright 
moonlight night is the night that bombers 
choose for their work when possible, but it 
was necessary to find and bomb the enemy 
and to keep worrying him all the time, 
whether or not anything was hit. 

Willy understood this in a vague way, 
though he had not thought much about the 
particular reasons for the night raids ex- 
cept that they were intended to kill Boches. 
He went to sleep in the hay, and did not 
awaken until a bomb, dropped from the 
skies over on the grove, shook the earth. 

The boy crawled out and peered up, but in 
the darkness could not see any of the bomb- 
ing planes. He decided that there were but 
few of them, perhaps three or four, and 
therefore concluded to defer the carrying 
out of his plan until later, when the second 


43 


LITTLE SOLDIERS OF FRANCE 


raid came on, if it did come. He Loped it 
might. 

It was near three o’clock in the morning 
Avhen the American airmen came again. 
This time Willy was awake and awaiting 
them. At the first distant drone of the Lib- 
erty motors on the American planes, he 
pricked np his ears and, with head turned 
to one side, listened intently. 

^The Americans come and there are, as 
Willy thought there would be, a whole fiock 
of them this time. It is well. The Amer- 
icans shall see, the Boches shall see, and 
Willy shall now see,” he chuckled. 

With that Willy struck a match on his 
shoe and stuck the little fiame into the hay, 
having done which he strolled away rapidly. 
Yells to the rear caused him to turn and 
look over his shoulder. The stack was blaz- 
ing and the Huns on top of it were leaping 
for their lives. 

^^The Boches appear to be excited about 
something,” muttered the lad. 

The whole field was aroused by this time 


44 


THE BOY WHO SHOWED THE WAY 


and men were running toward the burning 
stack, shouting and laughing at the plight 
of their companions who had been caught 
on the top of the stack, and who, as it was 
supposed, had set it on fire with their pipes. 

Willy took advantage of the confusion, 
which was added to by the horses that, 
frightened by the fiames, had bolted, and 
lounged up to another stack. Stepping in 
between two cavalry horses, he touched a 
match to the hay and slunk around under 
the necks of the animals to the other side of 
this second stack, and soon lost himself in 
the mass of moving soldiers. 

No one appeared to have taken any notice 
of the bombing planes that were fioating 
overhead. Willy himself almost forgot 
their presence in his excitement, but their 
presence was recalled to him in a startling 
manner a few minutes later. 

A fiash of fiame that seemed to rise right 
out of the ground a few hundred yards ahead 
of him, was followed by a terrific report. It 
was a bomb from the air and it landed right 


45 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FEAISTCE 


in among the Germans. The whole field 
was lighted up by the flames from the two 
stacks, and the scene down there must have 
been as clearly visible to the flying bombers 
as if the sun had been shining brightly. 

The bombing planes swooped down and 
fired their deadly bombs, soared off into 
space, and came back again. Men fled for 
the woods, followed by airplanes which now 
sprayed them with machine-gun fire, and 
dropped bombs on them at intervals. Huns 
fell over each other and fairly fought among 
themselves in their mad haste to save their 
lives, and it Avas but a short time before the 
field was emptied. Willy was nowhere in 
sight. He had prudently vanished, well 
satisfied that he had shown the American 
birdmen where to find the Huns. They did 
find them and great damage resulted, for 
much war equipment was destroyed and a 
great many of the enemy were put out of 
business. Willy reached his home safely 
and crawled into bed, chuckling. 

^^Now, you Boches, you eat some more 


46 


THE BOY WHO SHOWED THE WAY 


oxen and see what happens to yon,” he cried, 
doubling both fists and shaking them vigor- 
ously. told you our beloved Americans 
would take a stick to you, and they did.” 

Willy’s going to sleep was filled with 
sweet contentment, but his awakening was 
rude and disturbing. A rough hand shook 
him violently, and Willy opened his eyes to 
gaze into the stern face of a German cor- 
poral, who ordered him to get up and dress 
himself and come along. 

^What is it? Wha — at have I done?” 
stammered the farmer boy. 

^^Enough,” answered the corporal, who, 
as soon as the boy was dressed, started 
away with him. Willy observed that the 
corporal had a corporal’s guard with him. 
This was disquieting. It looked altogether 
*too official for Willy. The next hour was 
the most exciting in the boy’s life. 

He was arraigned before a German col- 
onel and questioned. Several soldiers said 
he had been seen to come away from the 
first stack and that it immediately burst 


47 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FEANCE 


into flames. Others now remembered that 
he had been seen to slink in between the 
horses at the second stack which also burst 
into flames, though the boy had not been 
seen to leave the place. Then, by the light 
thus made, the bombing from the American 
planes began. 

Willy forced a smile and shrugged his 
shoulders as if the matter were too trivial 
for him to reply to. He did not reply be- 
cause he would not lie about his part in the 
raid even if his life were to pay the penalty. 
Nor did Willy show any excitement when 
he was sentenced to be shot. The evidence 
was too strong to make any objections on 
his part worth while. 

The boy was taken to a house that the 
Germans were using as a guard-house and 
dropped through the trap door in the floor 
into the cellar. Other prisoners were there, 
so Willy had company, but it was far from 
being a happy company. One or two others 
also were under sentence of death, but when 
they asked him why he was there he replied 


48 


THE BOY WHO SHOWED THE WAY 


that the Boches, fearing that with all the 
shooting going on he might he hit, had put 
him in a safe place. He was too shrewd to 
make any admission, not knowing but there 
were spies in the cellar with him. 

Soon after being placed in the cellar the 
big guns began to boom, and the firing grew 
heavier. A shell hit the building and 
wrecked it, but fortunately the fioor over 
the cellar held up the wreckage and saved 
the lives of the group in the cellar, though 
they were now prisoners more surely than 
before. 

All day they remained there while the 
battle raged. After hours it died down 
and a great silence settled over the wreck- 
age of the Hun guard-house. 

am going to try to get out,’’ announced 
Willy. 

His companions sought to dissuade him, 
warning the lad that he surely would be 
shot. 

^T’ll be shot if I stay, so I am going. 
Help me.” 


^Little Soldiers of France. 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FEANCE 


After working a long time they succeeded 
in smashing the trap door, through which a 
lot of wreckage and dust tumbled down on 
them, but there was left a hole large enough 
for Willy to crawl through. He disap- 
peared in the wreckage above, when they 
heard him yell. 

Willy, crawling and wriggling, finally 
had reached the open air, and there, before 
his amazed eyes, were hundreds of American 
soldiers. They had driven the Germans out 
after a desperate battle that had raged 
since early morning. The boy’s next 
thought was for the imprisoned villagers in 
the cellar, and the Americans began dig- 
ging them out at once. 

When finally the story of what little 
Willy, the peasant boy, had done became 
known, the ^^doughboys” made a hero of 
him. They carried him about on their 
shoulders singing, while Willy, with a mess 
plate heaped with food, was eating as only 
a hungry boy can eat. 

The fiying bombers heard about it later. 


50 


THE BOY WHO SHOWED THE WAY 


and then they too made a great ado over 
him, and it was the fliers who bestowed the 
great reward upon him. They got a team 
of mules for him to take the place of the 
oxen that the Germans had eaten. 

^Wou may be certain that the Boches will 
not eat this team/’ said the flying lieutenant 
who made the presentation speech, ^^but 
look out for their heels.” 

Next day Willy resumed his farming, a 
happy boy and a proud boy too, not so much 
because of the present he had received, but 
that he had done something for his country 
and for those wonderful American soldiers 
who feared death so little that they played 
ball with deadly bombs and lighted their 
stubby pipes with cordite. 

^Wive FAmerica !” cried Willy as he shied 
a chunk of dirt at his mules to start them on 
their way to his once promising potato^ 
patch. 


51 


CHAPTEK IV 


THE DAUGHTER OF THE REGIMENT 


Marie Madeleine liad been orphaned 
by the war. Her mother had been killed 
by a shell explosion when their home was 
wrecked ; one brother had lost his life fight- 
ing for France, and her father, too old to 
fight, had been taken away by the Germans 
to work in the Fatherland, where, unable to 
stand the hardships, he had perished. 

Marie, fourteen years old, courageous 
like all of the children of France, had taken 
up her burden, doing the work that seemed 
to be most helpful to her people. She had 
heard from time to time about the arrival 
of the brave Americans, who were coming to 
rescue her people from the hands of the de- 
spised Huns, but as yet she had neither seen 
them nor heard the roar of their big guns. 


52 


THE DAUGHTEK OF THE EEGIMENT 


At last tlie word came that the Americans 
were approaching, and she was told that the 
distant heavy firing, which she could now 
plainly hear, was from the guns of the sol- 
dier boys from across the sea. 

The German army which held that sector, 
knowing something of the American fight- 
ing spirit, and perhaps realizing that they 
were in for a serious time, began moving 
their supplies back. It was the beginning 
of the great retreat toward their own bor- 
ders near the end of the war, when the 
^^Yankee’’ lads drove a sharp-pointed wedge 
through the famous Hindenburg Line. 

The firing grew heavier as the days 
passed, and the Germans fell back and back 
until their lines were to the eastward of the 
village, leaving it fairly between the lines, 
though the engineers of the Huns were still 
at work in and out of the village, laying 
traps for the conquerors. 

Marie had made a discovery through over- 
hearing the conversation of two German 
officers. Wells that had been made unsafe 


53 


LITTLE SOLDIERS OF FRANCE 


to drink from Lad been marked with some- 
thing resembling the form of the Iron Cross 
of Germany. Sometimes this sign was 
roughly cut in with a knife, at others daubed 
on with a brush and made to look as if it 
had been there a long time exposed to the 
weather, all calculated to deceive the enemy. 
All of these warning marks were small, so 
as not to attract attention, and were in- 
tended as a warning to every German officer 
and man. 

Similar markings were placed on certain 
houses in the village near the main en- 
trance, one had been cut into the front door 
of a church, and a village schoolhouse, dam- 
aged by shell-fire, was similarly marked. 
These buildings had been mined and were a 
deadly menace to every person who entered 
them. 

To the westward of the village, and to the 
eastward, there were trenches that had been 
used by the Germans. Some of these were 
filled up by the enemy before leaving, which 
excited the suspicions of Marie Madeleine, 

54 


THE DAUGHTEE OF THE EEGIMENT 


though she had no idea what new deeds the 
Germans had planned. She did know that 
the oncoming Americans would be in great 
danger even before they reached the village, 
and determined to warn them. 

When the Germans drew back they left 
rearguards, hundreds of them, to the west 
of the village to hold back and fight the 
Americans as long as they could. 

Marie thought over the situation and de- 
cided that the Americans must be warned 
before they reached the village, else sad 
things might come to pass. 

‘T must get to the good Americans before 
it is too late,’’ Marie confided to an old 
woman for whom she had been caring. 
^^They are but a short distance to the west- 
ward, but the Boches are between us. If 
the Americans but knew how few of the 
Boches there are here they could come on 
and take them without delay.” 

‘They will come in time, my daughter,” 
replied the invalid. 

Marie said no more on the subject to the 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FKA^^CE 


old woman, but her head was busy trying to 
devise some means of getting word to the 
army out there of the perils that awaited 
them in the village. She even, as an experi- 
ment, started out for the front one morning 
to see how close she could come to getting 
through the Hun lines, but was sternly or- 
dered to go back. A rifle, capped with a 
shiny bayonet, was thrust toward her to em- 
phasize the command. 

Marie shrugged her shoulders and turned 
back toAvard the village, but while out near 
the rearguard’s position she had seen many 
things that interested her, so her trip was 
not without result. At one side of the road 
that led out there a board with an iron cross 
painted on it had been driven into the 
ground. She saw several such signs, and 
upon her return to the village she went to 
the village Padre and asked him what a 
mine was. . 

The Padre explained that a mine was a 
big quantity of powerful explosive buried 
under the ground, or placed in a building, 

56 


THE DAUGHTEE OF THE EEGIMENT 


which could be arranged to explode at a cer- 
tain time by sending an electric current 
through a wire to it. If people were over 
or very near to the spot where such a mine 
exploded they would be blown to pieces. 

Marie shuddered. 

^Tlease help me to get through the lines. 
I must warn them/’ she urged. 

The Padre assured her that this would 
not be possible and Marie went away dis- 
pirited and troubled. That evening she 
put away the supper dishes in the home 
where she was working that day, and, going 
to her cot, lay down and cried. She had not 
been there long before a sudden resolution 
came to her. 

will do it !” she cried. 

Throwing a shawl over her head the girl 
was out of the house before the rest of the 
family realized what she was doing. Out 
through the back yard and down a narrow 
street toward the open country she ran with- 
out any definite idea of what she was going 
to do. As she neared the place where the 


57 


LITTLE SOLDIERS OF FRANCE 


trendies were she saw great activity there* 
Men were hurrying out toward the rear. A 
hundred or more of them were marching 
rapidly toward her. 

Marie threw herself down at the side of 
the road and made herself as small as pos- 
sible. They passed without seeing her, and 
then she sat up and observed the activity 
just beyond her. After a time quiet settled 
down over the scene and Marie mustered up 
all her courage and started on toward the 
trenches. She approached them cautiously, 
but there was no one to bar her way. After 
peering down into the dark, deserted trench, 
Marie slid down into it and climbed out on 
the opposite side with all speed. She was 
afraid do^vn there. Now she stood up and 
looked about her. There was a moon, and 
her figure was plainly outlined, standing 
there on the top of the sandbags that pro- 
tected the trench from the enemy side. 

^T’m through!” she cried exultingly. 
shall reach them yet.” 

Marie started to run, but she had gone but 

58 


THE HAUGHTEK OF THE EEGIMENT 


a few rods when from behind her came the 
stuttering voice of a machine gun and 
bullets began to buzz about her. The child 
threw herself on the ground. 

By looking back she could see by the 
flashes where the guns were placed. Some 
of them were in houses at the edge of the 
village and others were behind trees and 
little mounds of earth, in bushes, and in 
many other places. It was certain that the 
enemy had evacuated the trenches to give 
the Americans the impression that they had 
gone. Many of them had gone, but they had 
left still another deadly trap for the de- 
fenders of liberty. 

The machine-gun Are stopped suddenly. 
Marie was on her feet in an instant and run- 
ning with all speed, whereat the Germans 
began shooting at her again, but instead of 
stopping the girl ran on. 

After Marie had covered what she consid- 
ered was about half the distance to the 
American lines she plunged headlong into a 
deep shell-hole, and when she tried to stand 


59 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FEANCE 


up she found that she could not. Her ankle* 
was weak and helpless and pained her ter- 
ribly. The child lay down and sobbed in 
her bitter disappointment and pain. 

A new sound smote the air. It was a 
roaring volume of thunder, and though 
Marie did not know what it was beyond the 
fact that it was the fire of heavy guns, what 
she heard was what is known as a rolling 
barrage and it was coming toward her from 
the direction of the German lines. 

There she crouched while the terrible 
deluge of shells passed over her, tearing up 
the earth about her and half burying her. 
Then the barrage went rolling on toward 
the American lines. To make her position 
worse, the American artillery sent out a 
rolling barrage of their own, which, though 
she did not know it, went clear to the 
trenches that she had crossed, leaped over 
the village and went on its deadly course ta 
the rear, doing great damage among the 
enemy. 

When all danger was past the girl drew 
60 


THE DAUGHTEK OF THE EEGIMENT 


Ferself painfully to tlie top of the shell-hole 
and looked about her. To the west of her 
there was movement which she soon made 
out to be troops advancing. Who or what 
they were she did not know, so she sank 
back into the shell-hole and waited until the 
rapidly advancing lines, spread out with 
wide spaces between the men, reached her 
and the head of the line had passed her. 
She heard them speaking and then she 
knew. 

^^Americans she cried, waving the shawl 
above the top of the shell-hole. ^^Amer- 
icans 

A lieutenant and several men ran to the 
spot, their weapons leveled at her. 

^Tt is only a girl. There is no one here 
but me. I must speak to an officer. I have 
come out to meet you.’’ 

^^What’s this?” demanded a captain who 
at that juncture came running up to see 
what the men had stopped for. 

^This child says she wishes to speak to 
an officer, sir.” 


61 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FKANCE 


^‘Get up/’ commanded the captain, not un- 
kindly. 

can’t. I have hurt my ankle.” 

Marie was lifted from the hole and a 
pocket flash-lamp turned on her face. That 
she was very pretty they saw at once, and 
also that she was very much excited. 

^What is it you wish?” questioned the 
captain. 

came to tell you to have a care. The 
village is mined, many of the houses are 
mined, and the Boches have done something 
to the wells. Wherever you see the sign of 
the Iron Cross, beware. Beware of the 
trenches they have left, and beware of the 
main road that leads into the village, for 
that too is mined.” 

^^Then the Huns have gone?” 

^^Yes, some of them have. There are 
others there with machine guns waiting for 
you to come that they may shoot you down.” 

^‘You are a brave girl, and you have done 
us a great service. I will communicate 
with my commanding officer and he will 


62 



TFIE VILLAGE IS >iINEl) 












♦ k' 



THE DAUGHTEK OF THE EEGIMENT 


speak with you as he comes up/’ A soldier 
was ordered to remain with Marie and a 
runner sent back to carry a message to the 
colonel of the regiment that Marie had 
chanced to fall in with. 

The interview with the colonel was brief, 
and after it was finished he kissed the 
blushing child on both cheeks. 

^^The children of France !” murmured the 
colonel. ^^They are the salt of the earth. 
What an example for the children of my 
own beloved country to follow! Now tell 
me exactly where these machine-gun nests 
are located, tell me briefiy where the mines 
are, as well as anything else that you may 
think of.” 

This Marie did, and after she had finished, 
the colonel hurried on toward the head of 
the line, after leaving orders that she should 
be kept well back out of danger. 

There were other troops to the right and 
left of where Marie stood, vast numbers of 
them. She wondered where they all came 
from. Back at their old position German 


63 


LITTLE SOLDIERS OF FRANCE 


shells were falling, the Huns not yet having 
discovered that the Americans were moving 
up. They soon did discover it, however, 
and then the machine guns of the enemy be- 
gan to spray the ^^doughboys.’’ Uttering 
wild yells they charged the German ma- 
chine-gunners, halting just before they 
reached the mined spot. It was well they 
did, for a terrific explosion split the air and 
a black cloud was hurled up into the air. 
Ere this had settled the Yankees’’ drove 
ahead again and attacked the gunners sta- 
tioned in the houses at the edge of the 
village. 

The battle was soon ended, and, rather 
than pursue the Germans through the mined 
streets, the victors held their ground for the 
rest of the night, and on the following morn- 
ing took possession of the village and the 
trenches beyond it. 

Marie’s bravery, the colonel admitted, 
had been the means of saving many Amer- 
ican lives. The ^^doughboys” fairly over- 
whelmed her with their attentions, and be- 


64 


THE HAUGHTEK OF THE EEGIMENT 


fore the day was ended they had obtained 
her whole history. That evening they held 
a meeting and formally adopted her as the 
daughter of the regiment. 

It was decided that Marie should go to 
Paris and attend school until the end of the 
war, then to the United States to learn 
something of America and its institutions, 
after which she might, if she wished, remain 
in an American school or go back to France 
to finish her education. 

Marie Madeleine was a happy girl, when, 
a week later, she was sent back in an ambu- 
lance and put on a train for Paris, where 
she soon was able to enter school and begin 
what the regiment planned should be a good 
education, and which they proposed should 
lead to a brilliant career. 


^Little Soldiers of France. 


CHAPTEK Y 


ROGER THE LION-HEARTED 


The road to Paris was packed with hu- 
manity in two oppositely moving tides. One 
tide was rushing toward Paris while the 
other, clad in khaki, was swinging along to- 
ward Germany. The first were the unhappy 
refugees, the latter the American soldiers 
on their way to drive the Hun hack into his 
own lands and forever crush his mad desire 
to possess beautiful Paris. 

Aged men and women, children in arms, 
children on foot and riding in carts, their 
faces stern, but without a single tear drop, 
all were seeking safety from the fate that 
they knew would befall them were the cruel 
Huns once in control of them. 

As they looked upon this unhappy throng, 
on the evidences of suffering refiected in the 


66 


EOGEE THE LION-HEAKTED 


faces of old and young alike, the faces of 
Uncle Sam’s boys grew stern, for the Amer- 
ican soldier’s love for children is very deep 
and real, and his respect for the aged 
equally so. Many were the vows registered 
by these brave young men that day to make 
the Germans pay, and pay dearly, for the 
suffering they had brought on the aged men 
and women and the children of France. 

Well up along the line, toward the front, 
German shells were falling at intervals, 
most of them in fields to the right and left 
of the road over which the two lines were 
moving. Occasionally the Huns succeeded 
in dropping one right on the road and then 
there was trouble. 

A halt was made for a few minutes’ rest 
and refreshment by the troops, and it was 
at this time that a refugee cart broke down 

near where Company H of the th Kegi- 

ment — one of the snappiest regiments in the 
service — had halted. 

The cart, a two-wheeled affair, drawn by 
a woman and a dog, was piled high with 


67 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FRANCE 


household belongings, all covered with, a 
gaudy red tablecloth, and on top of the pile 
perched a boy whom one would judge to be 
about six years old. He was chubby, his 
cheeks were red, his face expressionless, as 
was the case with most of the child refugees, 
stunned with the experiences through which 
they were passing. 

Many of these little ones bore scars that 
testified to the cruelty of the German in- 
vaders, and so did many of their elders bear 
marks of the Hun’s viciousness. 

A wheel had come off the cart and the 
woman, who was the little fellow’s mother, 
was trying to fix it. A dozen Yankee boys 
sprang to her assistance, while the boy 
clung to the top of the badly tilted cart, his 
big eyes gazing unblinkingly at the good* 
natured soldiers. 

The wheel finally was on and secured so 
that it would not be likely to come off soon 
again, when there came a deafening ex- 
plosion. A German shell struck just at the 
side of the road and several Americans 


68 


EOGEE THE LION-HEAETED 


went down, seriously wounded, tliougli for- 
tunately not a man of them was killed. 
The refugees, however, did not fare so well. 
A number of them fell and several were 
killed. The woman, who had once more 
taken hold of the handle of her cart to start 
on her weary journey, collapsed in her 
tracks, and the dog that was assisting her 
toppled over without a moan. 

Eeady hands picked the woman up and a 
surgeon quickly examined her. 

^^She is dead,’’ he said. 

The Americans looked at one another and 
at the little man on top of the load. They 
saw that he had heard and understood. 
Struggling to keep back the tears he slowly 
stood up on the insecure heap and, turning, 
shook two little clenched fists toward the 
German lines. 

^^Boches, I hate you ! I eat you !” he cried. 

^That’s right, kiddie, but we’ll eat him 
alive for you,” cried the boys of Company 
H. ^^What are we going to do with the 
kid?” 


69 


LITTLE SOLDIERS OF FRANCE 


The men inquired of the refugees if they 
knew who the boy was, if any of them would 
take him and care for him, but none seemed 
to know, and they were too much concerned 
over their own unhappy positions to think 
of others. Some one suggested that the 
regiment take him along and see if they 
could not find out where he came from and 
perhaps return him to his relatives or 
friends. This met with an enthusiastic ap- 
proval. 

“Old Eat ’Em Alive,” they called him, and 
the name not only stuck, but the regiment 
adopted “Eat ’Em Alive” as their slogan. 
At the next rest they learned that his name 
was Roger, and that he came from St. Mar- 
tin, from where the Germans had shelled 
them out. 

That night they reached St. Martin. The 
village was in ruins, and a few hungry cats 
and dogs were the only living things found 
there. 

^ We’ll take him along and he shall be our 
mascot,” declared the men of Company H. 


70 


EOGEK THE LION-HEAETED 


In the next few days that the regiment 
was on the march the little fellow became 
the pet of every man in it, and now the 
officers began to take notice of the fact that 
the regiment was carrying a child along 
with it. The colonel questioned his major 
about it. 

^The child must be left behind at the first 
opportunity,’’ directed the colonel, with a 
half wink. 

^A"es, sir,” answered the major, who later 
said to the captain of Company H : 

^^This child that I hear is with the regi- 
ment cannot be carried with it any longer. 
Officially he is no longer with us.” He also 
winked. 

The captain accompanied his order to the 
first and second lieutenants of the company 
with a wink, and they conveniently forgot to 
transmit the order to the top sergeant, but 
the sergeant heard of it and he too winked 
when repeating the order to the men. 

As the regiment came to a halt that night 
they found themselves within easy firing 


71 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FRANCE 


distance of tlie German lines, and after a 
consultation they took little Roger to a 
Y. M. C. A. hut that had been hurriedly es- 
tablished in a cowshed, and directed the 
secretary to see to it that ^^Eat ’Em Alive” 
had proper care and protection. They told 
the secretary that he might expect to be in 
Avrong Avith the whole regiment if anything 
happened to little Roger. 

The little fellow begged to be taken along, 
but his guardians explained that they Avere 
liable to be called to go into battle at any 
moment, and that they Avould have him Avith 
them again as soon as they came back from 
the line. With that they left him, and ^^Old 
Eat ’Em Alive” Avas put to bed in a manger 
by the secretary, Avhere the little fellow lay 
awake for a long time, finally being lulled to 
sleep by the thunder of the guns. 

Rain Avas falling and the night was black, 
when Company H was lined up on a shell- 
pitted railroad track. The men could but 
faintly make out the form of their captain 
standing before them. 


72 


EOGEE THE LION-HEAKTED 


lie said, are about to go in. 
Some of us may not come out, but I know 
you will live up to your reputation. You 
have something new to fight for this time — 
the little fellow back there in the cowshed. 
Company H is going to avenge the wrongs 
of that little hero, and through him the 
other splendid children of France. Men, 
we are going in to Eat ’Em Up. Squads 
left, march !” 

There was no cheering, but every man in 
Company H was thrilled by the words of 
their captain, and they went in determined 
to strike the first blow for little Koger and 
through him for the children of France. 

The Germans had a bad night of it, and 
when the regiment came out next morning 
they brought with them many prisoners, for 
they had been over the top, and left many 
Huns in trench and on field who would never 
fight again. They had struck the first blow 
for ^^Old Eat ’Em Alive.” 

Koger remained with the regiment until 
the armistice was signed, then, when there 


73 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FKANCE 


was time for something besides fighting, the 
Intelligence Department of the army made 
efforts to find his relatives. They found an 
aunt and an uncle who lived at Brest who 
were eager to take the little fellow, whom 
they had thought to be dead. 

The regiment, and especially Company H, 
sent a sum of money to the American consul 
at Brest with directions to spend it to the 
best advantage for Koger, and then the day 
of parting came. It was a bad day for Com- 
pany H when Koger, in his little khaki uni- 
form that the men had made for him, stood 
before the company, with an effort keeping 
back the tears that would spring to his eyes, 
for he loved these big, stalwart, loving 
American boys; he loved them for them- 
selves and he loved them for France. 

The company saluted as one man, and in 
reply ^^Old Eat ’Em Alive” brought his right 
hand to the visor of his little cap in smart 
return salute. Then, throwing formality 
aside, he waved the cap in the air above his 
head. 


74 


KOGER THE LION-HEARTED 


‘^Vive PAmerica! Yive la France!’^ lie 
cried in a shrill childish treble, then, stuf- 
fing both pudgy fists in his eyes, ^^Old Eat 
’Em Alive” forgot his dignity and stood 
with the tears trickling down his cheeks. 

The men grabbed him up — that is, a ser- 
geant did — and all hands, singing ^^For He’s 
a Jolly Good Fellow,” marched with him to 
the camion on which he was to ride to the 
railroad station some miles to the rear, on 
his way to his new home in Brest. He had 
served his country well and he had inspired 

the men of the th Regiment to deeds of 

valor that would make their name stand out 
for all time in the histories of the great war. 
No soldier could do more than this. 


75 


CHAPTEK YI 


THE SACRIFICE OF CELESTE 


^^The Prussians are coining !” 

The cry was taken up and passed along 
through the village of Laurent and the peo- 
ple hastened to the protection of their 
homes. Celeste Marchand heard it and her 
face paled a little. 

Celeste and her mother were alone, the 
father being in the war, and there being no 
brothers or sisters. At the time the alarm 
was sounded she was working in the garden, 
from which she hastened into the house to 
tell the news to her mother. 

The little French girl was fourteen, but 
small for her age, bright and quick, and, 
like all French girls, full of the spirit of her 
race. Love of France was in her heart, and 
no sacrifice that she might make for her 


76 


THE SACEIFICE OF CELESTE 

country would be worth hesitating over for 
a moment. 

Celeste had been out that afternoon visit- 
ing a little girl friend who lived on a farm 
two miles to the south of the village, and on 
her return she had made a discovery that 
thrilled her. The path she followed led 
through a small forest that extended up 
nearly to the village itself, and was the 
short cut to and from the farm where her 
friend lived. 

As she was returning, after sundown, she 
heard voices in the woods, and the neigh of 
a horse. There were no horses now left in 
Laurent, and very few men, except the old 
and feeble, which was reason for the girl to 
be curious. 

Her progress came to a sudden halt when 
a soldier in khaki stepped suddenly from be- 
hind a tree and, presenting his rifle, ordered 
her to halt. He lowered his rifle and smiled 
when he saw that it was only a child, and 
told her she must come with him. 

Celeste was a little disturbed, but the 


77 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FEANCE 


smile of tlie soldier reassured Ler. A few 
moments later she was led in among a lot 
of other soldiers and to an officer, who 
proved to he a captain, and to whom, in an- 
swer to questions, she told her name and 
where she lived, and answered several other 
questions, among them being one as to 
whether or not she had seen any Germans in 
or near the village of late. Celeste said 
that she had not seen any in a long time. 

The captain then informed her that this 
was a troop of American cavalry, and that 
he hoped she would not say anything about 
their presence there, as it was not their in- 
tention to go any nearer the village. 

^^You, I see, are French, and I know what 
little patriots the children of France are, 
so I feel that I am making no mistake in 
trusting to your honor. Now you may go, 
and please forget that you have seen us. 
We shall be gone sometime before morning.’^ 

^^Thank you. Monsieur. Cffieste ^vill keep 
a close tongue in her mouth. None shall 
know that she has seen the brave Amer- 


78 


THE SACKIFICE OF CELESTE 


icans.” She made a little courtesy and 
walked away with great dignity, for she 
was the possessor of a military secret, and 
she knew that the brave captain knew it was 
safe with her. 

It was because of her knowledge that the 
troopers were out there in the forest that 
she felt a thrill of alarm when the cry that 
the Prussians were coming was sounded in 
the village street. 

Celeste had little time to think, for a 
troop of German cavalry was at that mo- 
ment pounding down the road at a gallop. 
Her house was the first one in the street at 
the eastern end, and somewhat distant from 
the nearest house to the west of it. The 
horsemen halted a little distance from the 
house and an officer was soon hammering 
on the barred door with the butt of his 
saber. It was Celeste who opened the door. 
She was calm and guileless as she looked up 
into the face of the German officer. 

^^Have you seen any English or American 
soldiers here?’’ he demanded gruffiy. 


79 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FKANCE 


Herr Officer, none Lave been bere.’^ 
not lie. If I find you have told me 
a lie you will be shot. Our airmen saw a 
troop of cavalry coming this way, and we 
know that they have not passed Laurent.” 

^There are none here,” persisted the girl. 

^^Then you will remain in your house. 
None of the villagers will be permitted to 
leave their homes to-night. Disobedience 
means death.” 

With that the officer strode away. Celeste 
closing and barring the door behind him. 
She watched the officer go to the next house 
and could imagine what he was saying, and 
now she was happy that she had not even 
told her mother of what she had come upon 
in the forest. The Americans must be 
warned of the presence of the Germans, and 
she was the only person in all the village 
who could do so. 

Waiting until dark, the girl slipped from 
the house and started across the fields on a 
run toward the forest. She had never been 
through there at night and the surround- 

80 


THE SACKIFICE OF CELESTE 


ings looked unfamiliar to her, but sbe found 
the path and then ran with all her might to 
the spot where she had talked with the 
officer that afternoon. 

She found trampled bushes, the evidences 
of the recent presence of the troop, but that 
was all. The cavalrymen had prudently 
moved to another camp site or else they had 
resumed their journey. 

Celeste did not know whether to be glad 
or sorry, but there was no more that she 
could do, so she turned homeward, running 
to get back as quickly as possible before her 
absence might be discovered. 

She was brought up standing by a gruff 
order in German to halt, and shuddered as 
a bayonet Avas pressed against her body. 
The sentry who had stopped her peered into 
her face, then gruffiy ordered her to come 
with him. As she neared the village square 
she saw that there was unusual commotion 
there, and that the German troopers were 
in their saddles while their captain was rag- 
ing at the villagers. 

6 — Little Soldiers of France. Oi 


LITTLE SOLDIERS OF FRANCE 


It was at this juncture that the child was 
turned over to the officer who had visited 
her home, and told that she had been caught 
while running from the forest toward the 
village. 

‘^So? You are a traitor? We know now 
that the Americans have been here. They 
were seen over by yonder trees just before 
dark and you have come from that direc- 
tion. Speak, or your life pays the penalty ! 
Where are the Americans?’’ 

do not know, Herr Captain,” answered 
Celeste in a steady voice. 

^Wou lie !” He brought his hand against 
her cheek with such force that the child 
measured her length on the ground. 

Celeste got up quickly. Her eyes were 
blazing and her face wore a deep flush. 

^^Coward !” she breathed. ^^Only a Boche 
would strike a child.” 

^^Where are the Americans?” 
do not know.” 

The captain turned to his horse and 
sprang into the saddle. Once there he ut- 


82 


THE SACKIFICE OF CELESTE 


tered a sharp command. Six troopers 
raised their rifles. Six rifles spoke, and 
Celeste spun about and collapsed on the 
pavement. 

A cry of horror rang out from the vil- 
lagers, who were too frightened to run. 
Just then a strange thing occurred. Some- 
where down the street a rifle crashed 
and the German captain toppled from his 
horse. 

A volley followed it and a dozen saddles 
were emptied. Pandemonium seized upon 
the German troopers. The shots had come 
from the direction of their own lines, though 
they knew that the German lines were 
many, many miles from them. To run in 
the opposite direction was all that was left 
for them, and this is what those who were 
left did. But trouble awaited them there 
also, for the moment they had got beyond 
the houses, a rain of bullets met them. The 
Germans, unable to see their enemies or to 
know where they were, were caught. They 
then wheeled and rode furiously to the east* 


83 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FEANCE 


ward, and once more at the other end of the 
street a withering fire met them. 

Not many of that company of German 
Uhlans were left when the American cap- 
tain got through with them. His scouts 
had told him that the Germans were there, 
and after dark the American troopers rode 
out, hoping to be able to catch the Germans 
unawares. The American captain got there 
in time to witness the cruel shots that had 
laid little Celeste low, and it was his rifie 
that toppled over the brutal Hun captain. 

The American captain had disposed his 
troops at either end of the village street, 
and thus easily trapped the Germans. 
Those who were not killed or wounded were 
taken prisoners. 

The captain’s next care was to look after 
the little Celeste who lay out there in the 
street, now deserted, for the villagers had 
fled when the shooting began. 

He found that the child was alive, and a 
closer examination showed that a bullet had 
gone through her left arm, and that another 

84 


THE SACKIFICE OF CELESTE 


had grazed her head. It was the latter shot 
that had proved nearly fatal. Either tho 
German troopers were very poor shots, or 
else they had purposely failed to hit her in 
a vital spot. As it was they had done quite 
enough to her. 

The captain, after consultation with the 
neighbors and with the child’s mother, de- 
cided that the little patriot must be taken 
back to the American lines, where she could 
have immediate treatment, so taking her in 
his own arms he started away, followed 
by his men and his prisoners at a more lei- 
surely gait. 

At the emergency dressing station it was 
found that the bone of Celeste’s left arm 
had been shattered and that the arm would 
have to come off, and for this purpose she 
was moved back to a base hospital on the 
following morning and there her slender 
arm was amputated. 

Celeste, being young and of wonderful 
spirit, recovered rapidly. Twice during 
her stay at the hospital she was visited by 


85 


LITTLE SOLDIERS OF rRA:N^CE 


the American cavalry captain who had so 
quickly avenged her at Laurent, and it was 
he who, through the mayor of the town, ar- 
ranged with the French authorities to give 
her an education to fit her to go through life 
with one arm and make a comfortable liv- 
ing. To this end the captain contributed 
almost a year’s salary, which sum was 
placed in the hands of the mayor of Laurent 
for Celeste’s benefit. Her sacrifice had 
been great for the cause of liberty, and in 
giving an arm. Celeste did not feel that she 
had given too much to America and to 
France. 


86 


CHAPTEE VII 


ADOLPHE, THE MILLER’s BOY 


Strange things had come to pass in the 
quiet little French village of Louvel since 
that day so long ago when the word came that 
France had gone to war with the Huns. 

Adolphe was only nine years old at the 
time, but, young as he was, he shared the 
general enthusiasm of his people for his 
country and their loathing for the Germans 
and all things German. His father, who 
owned and operated a crude grist-mill, went 
out with the territorials at once and was 
killed in the early fighting. This left the 
mill without a miller, but about this time a 
man too old to fight, who said he had been 
for years a miller in the south of France, 
offered to take over the mill and operate it 
for half the profits. 


87 


LITTLE SOLDIERS OF FRANCE 


The old miller lived in the mill and kept 
to himself from the start. He attended 
faithfully to his business, regularly turning 
over the slender half of the profits to 
Adolphe’s mother. Adolphe helped keep 
their home going by working after school 
when he could find work to do, and at other 
times he played in the mill and became 
quite friendly with old Jacques, the miller. 

At last the Germah armies swept down 
over all the surrounding territory and there 
was not very much work for the mill to do. 
The Germans stole everything the villagers 
had, except such stuff as they had hidden in 
their houses in secret recesses or buried out 
in the gardens. The Germans took posses- 
sion of the mill, and the old miller had to 
give up his cot and sleep on the fioor or else 
sleep standing up. 

There came a time when artillerymen 
over yonder, far away in the French lines, 
found the German artillery near the mill 
and destroyed it with their own long-range 
cannon. These cannon, as Adolphe learned 


88 


ADOLPHE, THE MILLEE’S BOY 


through a German, were being fired by men 
from far across the sea — American artillery- 
men. Hearing this, the interest and en- 
thusiasm of the little peasant boy grew. 
If men came all the way from America to 
fight the Boches, they must indeed love his 
beautiful France, and therefore he loved 
them very dearly. 

The lad wished he too might do something 
for his country, but there seemed no way, 
and so he went on, always observing, always 
remembering everything he saw. One day 
he noticed a change. Great numbers of 
German soldiers began passing through 
from the front, and it was whispered about 
among the village women that the Germans 
were retreating. 

This was joyous news for little Adolphe 
and his face wore a grin as he watched them 
pass. Artillery, drawn by sweating horses, 
clanked and rumbled through the village, 
wagons loaded with supplies passed back, 
and thousands of men crowded the roads 
and the fields. 


89 


LITTLE SOLDIERS OF FUANCB 


One morning wlien AdolpLe came out he 
rubbed his eyes in amazement. Instead of 
the familiar uniform of the Germans, the 
village swarmed with slim, broad-shoul- 
dered men in khaki, and before the town 
hall floated an American flag. He knew 
what it was for he had seen a picture of the 
Stars and Stripes in a book at school. 

^^The Americans are here!’’ shouted 
Adolphe as he tore into his home. ^^They 
have come, ma Mere, they have come!” 

It was a glorious day in Louvel, and 
perhaps the happiest person of all the long- 
suffering inhabitants was Adolphe. He 
made friends with the Yankee boys from 
the start ; he marveled at their kindness, at 
their quick friendship for the children, and, 
reasoning it out to himself, he came to a cor- 
rect conclusion. 

^^The Boches are cruel to women and chil- 
dren. The Americans are kind and have 
love in their hearts; therefore the Amer- 
icans are brave men,” was the way he rea- 
soned the matter out. 


90 


ADOLPHE, THE MILLER’S BOY 


Once more the mill was at work, but soon 
there was something of greater interest 
than all. The Huns began to fire big shells 
into the village, some of them falling near 
the town hall, where the American com- 
manding officer’s headquarters were, while 
others fell on and destroyed houses in the 
village. It made no difference to the Huns 
how many women and children they maimed 
or killed, it mattered not to them where 
their shells landed so long as they did dam- 
age. 

Under a screen of trees, well camoufiaged, 
the Americans made an ammunition dump. 
One shell from the enemy lines, fired just 
after dark, blew up the dump with a tre- 
mendous explosion that shook the glass out 
of nearly all the windows in Louvel. Every 
window in the mill went out at the same 
time. Adolphe helped the miller clean out 
the place the day after the explosion. 

The same thing occurred again, and still 
another ammunition dump was blown up. 
Xot alone this, but two of the American bat- 


91 


LITTLE SOLDIERS OF FRANCE 


teries were smashed by the Huns’ accurate 
shooting. 

Adolphe, in one of his daily visits to the 
doughboys, learned something about this 
that he had not even thought of. 

^^Somebody in this town is going to face a 
firing squad one of these fine mornings,” ob- 
served a doughboy. ^^Somebody is keeping 
the Boches informed right along from day 
to day of where our batteries are, and I 
guess of where we are and what we are 
doing. The Old Man (the commanding 
officer) is mad all through.” 

^^Some — somebody is spying on us, is that 
what you mean. Monsieur?” questioned the 
boy. 

^^You’ve guessed it. Find the man who is 
doing this, kiddie, and you will do a lot to- 
ward helping win this little war. It’s a 
messy sort of a war, but it’s the only war 
we’ve got.” 

^^Adolphe will find him,” observed the boy 
solemnly, which aroused much laughter 
among the soldiers. 


92 


ADOLPHE, THE MILLEK’S BOY 


Many men were engaged at tliat moment 
on the problem that confronted Adolphe, 
and every person in the village and sur- 
rounding territory was more or less under 
observation of the American authorities, 
yet not a clue did any one find. 

That evening Adolphe walked over to the 
mill, where the miller was grinding grain 
that had been bought for the American Ex- 
peditionary Force. The mill was running, 
but the miller was nowhere to be found. 
The boy went upstairs, where the grain ele- 
vators were humming away, and then down 
into the wheel pit, where the darkness was 
so deep that not a single thing could be 
made out. He thought perhaps the miller 
had gone down there to fix the water gates, 
which frequently got out of order. 

Adolphe heard a faint squealing sound 
that at first he thought was from rats. 
There are always plenty of rats about a 
mill. He listened and listened, but could 
make nothing of it. Finally he trudged 
back upstairs and sat down on the edge of a 


93 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FRAIS^CE 


millstone that the miller had been working 
over that day, as millers in the old- 
fashioned mills have to do quite frequently. 

In a few moments the miller came up the 
stairs from the wheel pit. He started 
when he saw Adolphe, then demanded an- 
grily: 

^^How did you get in here? I locked the 
door when I went down to fix the water 
gates.’^ 

‘T crawled in through the window,” an- 
swered Adolphe. At the same time he 
knew that the miller had not been fixing the 
gates, because Adolphe had just been down 
there himself and no miller was there. 

Adolphe wondered. Where had Jacques 
come from? Surely he had not been under 
the water down there. No answer to the 
question occurred to him. The miller not 
being in a pleasant humor, Adolphe went 
home. The next morning he was at the 
mill early, hoping that Jacques might not 
be there, so Adolphe could go down in the 
wheel pit again and look about. The miller 


94 


ADOLPHE, THE MILLEK’S BOY 

was there, and he told Adolphe to get out 
and not bother him. 

The rest of the day was occupied by the 
lad in strolling around the town, eyes and 
ears wide open. His travels took him to the 
headquarters of the American staff officers 
in the town hall, but the boy was not per- 
mitted to enter. He stood on the steps, 
talking with the sentry. 

^^T\TiaPs that?’’ he demanded as a peculiar 
squealing sound reached his ears. 

^Wireless,” answered the sentry briefly. 

^^AYhat are they doing?” 

^^Sending a message to some one.” 

^To the Germans?” questioned Adolphe 
innocently. 

^^N^o! What do you think this is? Ger- 
man headquarters? To the Americans, of 
course.” 

Adolphe went home, and going out into 
the little orchard back of his home, sat down 
on the ground and thought and thought. 

^^The rats are squealing at the place of 
the Americans, and the rats are squealing 


95 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FEANCE 


under tlie mill/’ lie observed. ^^Ab! The 
Boches have hit the headquarters.” 

Adolphe ran down the street until he 
reached the American headquarters, from 
which a cloud of dust was rising. A Ger- 
man shell had taken off a corner of the 
building, and while he was gazing wonder- 
ingly another shell tore through the roof, 
and the staff was making a hasty exit, tak- 
ing out its belongings with all speed. An- 
other shell landed at the rear of the building 
and blew in the rear wall. Three soldiers 
were killed and several were wounded. The 
Huns had the range exactly, and before the 
shelling ceased the headquarters building 
was only a heap of masonry over which 
floated a cloud of white dust. 

The headquarters of the commanding 
officer was quickly established in the village 
schoolhouse, and it was there that Adolphe 
went before the staff was settled for work. 
He demanded to see the commanding officer. 

It was some little time ere the boy was 
able to get action on his request, and when 


96 


ADOLPHE, THE MILLEK’S BOY 


he did he was taken before a gray-haired 
man, tall, slim and straight, with stern face 
and cold blue eyes. 

^Well?” demanded the man, who wore a 
star on his shoulder. 

^^Yon have not found the spy, my Officer?’’ 

^'Eh?” 

The boy repeated the question. 

^^No. What is it you wish?” 

^^To tell you that the rats are squealing 
under the old mill.” 

The American general eyed him keenly, 
and though not understanding what Adolphe 
was trying to tell him, he instantly saw that 
there was a veiled meaning in the words. 

^^Tell me what you have to say and in 
plain words, my boy.” 

Adolphe hesitated, then related in as few 
words as possible the story of his going to 
the old mill, what he had heard down in the 
wheel pit, the peculiar actions of the miller 
himself, adding, ^^and the rats under the 
mill squeal just like that wireless machine 
did over at the town hall.” 


7 — Little Soldiers of France. 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FEANCE 


^^You stay here. Keep this boy here/’ 
commanded the general, springing up. Or- 
ders were issued with a snap and speed that 
confused Adolphe, and officers hurried from 
the building. 

It was more than an hour later when a 
squad of soldiers entered, leading Jacques, 
the miller. Then the general heard the 
story. In an old, long-since abandoned 
wheel pit used in an earlier mill, the sol- 
diers had found a complete wireless in- 
stallation, its power generated by the mill’s 
water wheel. In the attic, under a section 
of the floor, they found the aerials that the 
miller could put up above the roof and con- 
nect with wires that led down through a 
grain-elevating box to the pit under the 
mill. 

Adolphe listened with open mouth. He 
was more than ever amazed when the ex- 
amination developed the fact that Jacques 
was not a Frenchman at all, but a German 
professor, whom the Huns had left there a 
long time before, knowing that sooner or 


98 


ADOLPHE, THE MILLEK’S BOY 


later the army would have need of his 
services. 

Jacques was taken away and Adolphe 
saw him no more, for on the following morn- 
ing he disappeared from the life of the vil- 
lage forever. Adolphe did not know to a 
certainty what had become of the miller, 
but he knew what armies did to spies when 
they caught them. 

^^My son,’’ said the general, when next day 
he sent for Adolphe, ^^you have done a won- 
derful service for your country and for us, 
and your name will be sent in with my re- 
port of the occurrence. What can I do to 
please you?” 

Adolphe pondered briefly. 

think,” he said looking up, his mouth 
twisted into a half smile, ^^you can please 
Adolphe most by whipping the Boches.” 


99 


CHAPTEE YIII 


A LITTLE SISTER TO THE BRAVE 


Only a few families were left in tlie little 
Erenck village of St. Noel when the Amer- 
ican troops took over that sector, where such 
of the inhabitants as had remained lived in 
cellars. Now and then their homes, or what 
were left of them, tumbled down over 
their heads under the fire of the German 
artillery. 

The village was close to the firing line, 
in fact right on it, for there were trenches 
in the streets, and barricades and machine 
guns, while from cellars communicating 
trenches led right out to the firing line held 
by the Americans, just at the edge of the 
village. 

Many of the inhabitants had been killed, 
among them the parents of Yvette Vidal, be- 


100 


A LITTLE SISTER TO THE BRAVE 


fore tlie Germans were driven out of tlie vil- 
lage. Her father had been bayoneted be- 
cause he tried to protect his little family, 
and the mother of the girl was shot because 
she refused to give food to a German officer. 
Yvette was in the house of a neighbor when 
all this occurred, and escaped the fate of 
her parents. 

Soon after that a desperate battle had 
been fought in the streets of the village be- 
tween the Americans and the Germans. 
The Germans were driven out, but the vil- 
lage was still being fought for. Shells 
dropped in the streets and on the ruined 
houses every day, machine guns of the 
enemy swept the streets, and snipers picked 
off soldiers who, in crossing the street, did 
not do so in a darting run. 

Almost every cellar was an emergency 
dressing station, and it was in these dress- 
ing stations that little Yvette, though only 
thirteen, first displayed her steady courage, 
by doing such small things as she could to 
assist the surgeons, even if it were no more 

101 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FEANCE 


than holding the hand of a wounded soldier 
while the surgeon was probing for a bullet 
in his body. Her voice was as gentle as her 
smile, which misery and suffering had soft- 
ened, and many a man’s agony was lessened 
through her loving ministrations. 

Every man in the village soon came to 
know her and to love her, and the same 
smart salutes were bestowed upon her that 
were exacted by the officers themselves. 

Yvette loved the brave, clean-minded 
American fighters fully as much as they did 
her, and it got on their nerves and made 
them jumpy to see her take the terrible 
chances that she did. Eespect and adora- 
tion were in every soldier’s and officer’s 
voice when he spoke to her, as well as in 
every action, for her courage, like their ovm, 
was of the calm, smiling sort that faces 
death without a quaver. 

Of course Yvette had many narrow es- 
capes, none of which she ever mentioned, 
and it was always some one else who told 
of a shell exploding so close to her as to 


102 


A LITTLE SISTEE TO THE BKAYE 


tear lier skirt to shreds, or a sniper^s bullet 
that snipped her hat, or a bomb from the 
skies that she did not even run from when 
it came crashing down into the street. It 
seemed almost uncanny that she was able 
to walk across a street sprayed with ma- 
chine-gun fire and not be even touched by a 
bullet. 

Day and night the Little Sister of Mercy 
worked with and for the wounded and the 
sick, though most of the latter were immedi- 
ately removed to a base hospital further to 
the rear. One day she was standing on the 
sidewalk, or rather where the sidewalk 
should have been, speaking to a soldier who 
stood in the doorway of a house. 

^^You must not stand out there. You will 
be hit,’’ he said, stretching out a hand to 
draw her into the protection of the doorway, 
and the hand that was so solicitously reached 
out for her was the mark for a sniper’s bullet. 
A hole was neatly bored through the hand, 
and it was Yvette who bound it up for him, 
still standing in her exposed position. A 

103 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FEANCE 


bullet, supposedly from tbe same sniper’s 
rifle, fanned ber flair wflile sfle was putting 
tfle bandage on tfle soldier’s band, but sfle 
gave not tfle slightest fleed to tflis peril. 
Witfl bis whole band be pulled her into tfle 
doorway, then into tfle bouse, as a shell ex- 
ploded right in tfle middle of tfle street, 
showering witfl dirt, stones and pieces of 
steel tfle spot where sfle bad stood. 

For weeks tflis continued, and Yvette was 
growing thin under tfle strain of sleepless 
nights and tfle trying work among tfle 
wounded, but her smile was as sweet, her 
voice as gentle as ever. It seemed tfle irony 
of fate that Yvette’s luck should have 
changed when sfle was staunching tfle flow 
of blood for a German soldier. 

He had been brought in by an American 
sergeant, who was about to cross tfle street 
witfl tfle prisoner when a sniper’s bullet 
killed tfle sergeant. Tfle same bullet flit 
tfle German and knocked him over. He lay 
in tfle street, moaning and bleeding pro- 
fusely. 


104 


A LITTLE SISTEK TO THE BKAYE 


Yvette, who had been a witness to the 
tragedy from the entrance to the cellar of a 
shell-torn house, ran out to give such aid as 
she could. Her first duty was to the Amer- 
ican sergeant, but the hand she placed over 
his heart told her that the brave American 
was dead. 

Discovering this, she knelt down beside 
the suffering German and sought to check 
the flow of blood until the stretcher-men 
came over to carry him to the dressing sta- 
tion. A sniper’s bullet whistled close to 
her cheek, so close that she felt its hot 
breath. She was observed to flinch ever so 
little, then to go on with her work of mercy. 

In the next moment the little woman sud- 
denly squared her shoulders, swsijed a little 
and fell forward across the body of the 
wounded German. The sniper had got her 
with his second shot — had fired at her de- 
liberately and with the intention of killing 
her while she was seeking to save the life of 
one of his own people. 

Stretcher-bearers, already on their way to 


105 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FKANCE 


take in the wounded German, picked her up, 
one of them being felled with a sniper’s bul- 
let in the leg while doing so, and carried 
her to the dressing station in the cellar, 
where she had smoothed the way for many 
a poor fellow who was passing on to the 
beyond. 

The American surgeon, a major, looked 
her over hurriedly, and his face grew stern. 
He shook his head in answer to the un- 
spoken question in the eyes of those about 
him, and at this juncture Yvette, who had 
been unconscious, opened her eyes. 

^‘How — how bad is it, my Major?” she 
questioned weakly . 

^^You are quite badly hit, Yvette, but we 
shall try to fix you up. You must let me 
give you a little jab in the arm to ease the 
pain that you will feel in a few minutes, 
then you can go to sleep. You see the shock 
of the bullet is a severe one.” The major 
spoke almost jovially, but he did not permit 
his eyes to meet hers. 

‘^My Major,” she replied reprovingly, 
106 


A LITTLE SISTER TO THE BRAVE 


^^you would not deceive your little friend? 
Yvette knows. It is but a few moments 
now until sbe shall be with her father and 
mother. Be — be good to my beloved Amer- 
icans, and do not hurt them any more than 
you can help.” 

Yvette’s voice was growing weak. For a 
few moments she lay with closed eyes. 
When again she opened them her voice had 
sunk to a whisper. The major leaned close 
to her. 

^^Be — good to them,” she murmured. 
^Terhaps they may love little Yvette well 
enough to give her a firing squad and — and 
fire a volley — over — ^her grave. Yvette will 
sleep the more sweetly if they do.” 

^^Yes, Yvette,” answered the major in a 
strained tone. ^^All shall be as you would 
have it.” 

Yvette smiled up happily at him, her eyes 
closed tremblingly, and the major kissed 
her lightly on the forehead. Yvette had 
died as she had lived — ^with a smile on her 
face and a thought for others. 


107 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FEANCE 


Where is that wounded German?” de- 
manded the major sternly to cover his real 
feelings. 

^^Sir,” spoke up an assistant, a lieutenant, 
^Vould — would it he permissible to let the 
man die where he is?” 

‘^No! Your answer is there,” thundered 
the major, pointing to Yvette. 

They gave her a military funeral late that 
afternoon, and a firing squad fired a volley 
over her grave as the mournful strains of 
the last call, ^^taps,” died away. 

That night the American soldiers went 
over the top. Though they had not been 
told, every man knew why he was going 
over, and they fought like tigers. They bent 
and shattered and crushed the German 
lines, and the few prisoners that were 
brought back from that night’s work de- 
clared that the Americans were wild ani- 
mals. 

Yvette, the Little Sister to the Brave, had 
been gloriously avenged. 


108 


CHAPTEE IX 


AN ADVENTURE IN THE SKIES 


Victor, according to what the neighbors 
said, had always been a venturesome boy 
who was ever getting into trouble, which 
may in a measure excuse him for the diffi- 
culties he got into just back of the American 
lines near Chatel Chehery, France, in the 
latter days of the great war. 

At Victor’s home there was an American 
major — that is, he was there when not on 
duty — named Longman. The major was 
long sideways, as Victor expressed it, fat 
and good-natured, with the same love in his 
heart for the children of France that the 
heart of every American soldier and officer 
holds and always will hold for them. 

Major Longman was a balloon observer, 
that is, he went up in a captive balloon and 

109 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FKANCE 


spied on the Huns, telling his own artillery 
where the Hun batteries were located, so 
they might shoot them out of existence; 
where large bodies of men were congre^ 
gated, that the American artillerymen 
might drop a shell in among them. There 
were various other things that the major ob- 
served, but these were the principal ones. 

The major had taken a great liking to 
Victor, who was bright, eager to learn, and 
useful in many ways to the officer ; and so 
the boy was frequently permitted to accom- 
pany the major to the base from which the 
captive balloon was sent up daily for ob- 
servation, unless the weather was too bad. 

They called the balloon a ^^sausage,’’ and 
it did look something like a sausage, except 
that it had elephant ears, and from it there 
hung suspended a basket that looked very 
small and fragile. Victor was doubtful 
about its being able to carry a man of the 
major’s weight, but just the same he was 
eager to go up with his friend, and told the 
major so. 


110 


AN ADYENTUKE IN THE SKIES 


will think about it. Some day when 
the Boches are quiet perhaps we may even 
think real hard/’ said the major, smiling. 

The balloon was anchored to a motor 
winch, which was anchored to a motor 
truck so that it might be moved about 
quickly from place to place. Time and time 
again Victor stood until his neck ached 
from gazing almost straight up, to watch 
his friend rise far up into the skies until he 
could no longer see the figure of the major, 
and the balloon itself looked very small. 

One morning the lad got a great and joy- 
ous surprise. The major said it looked 
like a quiet day, and that Victor might go 
up with him if he were quite sure that he 
would not get excited and jump out. Victor 
promised, and began to prepare for the jour- 
ney. The flying togs of the other observers 
would not fit him, so they put him into a 
long fleece-lined coat, a knitted helmet over 
his head, and then put a harness on him. 

The observer’s harness consists of a series 
of straps, leather or canvas, and from it 

111 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FEANCE 


leads a rope that is attached to a parachute 
hanging on the outside of the basket. Each 
observer has one, and, if there are two ob- 
servers to go up, a third parachute is car- 
ried along in case the first one is lost or 
shot away. 

When all was ready the crew boosted 
Victor over into the basket. He was fol- 
lowed by the major, who puffed a little from 
the exertion of climbing in, and the boy 
thought he was going to tip the basket over. 

^^Stop at one thousand,’’ directed the 
major. ^^All clear.” 

The basket shot up so fast that it took 
Victor’s breath away, and at a thousand 
feet it stopped with a jolt that made him 
grab nervously at the side of the basket. 
He grinned sheepishly when he saw the 
major’s laughing eyes fixed on him. The 
major then pointed out the Hun lines, and 
many other things that were very wonder- 
ful to the little French boy. The view was 
far and wide, and, following the direction 
of the major’s finger, pointing to the west- 


112 



“OVER \YITH YOU” 




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AN ADYENTUKE IN THE SKIES 


ward, Victor found himself looking down on 
his own home. 

^We will now go up where we can see 
something/’ announced the officer, then 
called an order through the telephone. 
Victor thought they already were up pretty 
high, and he was positive that the view 
would look better to him if he were nearer 
the earth, but he was too plucky to confess 
that he was a little uneasy. He hung on 
with both hands while the huge bag over 
them rose up into the blue until the earth 
seemed to fade and grow unreal to the eyes. 
^^Stop at four,” ordered the officer, meaning 
four thousand feet. 

^Watch that dark spot about one kilo- 
meter to the westward of that white build- 
ing yonder. Don’t take your eyes from it.” 

Victor heard a boom far below him, then 
suddenly the dark spot that the major had 
indicated went up in an umbrella-shaped 
cloud of earth. 

“A hit !” announced the major. ^That is 
the way we lay them down on the Boches.” 

^Little Soldiers of France. 1 1 Q 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FEANCE 

^^Hooray!” yelled the lad, waving a mit- 
tened hand excitedly, his voice sounding 
hollow and weak. 

Soon the wind began to rise and a curtain 
of clouds was drawn over the blue sky, shut- 
ting out the sun. The balloon began to 
sway, and then came a sickening lurch that 
made Victor’s head whirl. He was dizzy 
and a little sick. 

^^Think we had better go down, eh, old 
man?” questioned the officer. 

can stand it if you can, my Officer. I 
am a Frenchman.” 

^^Yes, I believe you can, rough as it’s using 
you, but we must start.” He ordered the 
winch to begin hauling them in. Then be- 
gan a series of evolutions that Victor never 
was quite able to figure out clearly. At 
two thousand feet the bag began to dive. 
Victor was fiopped almost out of the basket 
and would have gone all the way over if the 
major had not grabbed him and hauled him 
back. 

^^Hang on, the worst is yet to come. 


114 


AN ADVENTURE IN THE SKIES 


Hello down there ! Stop it ! Want to crack 
our heads on the ground? Thunder storm 
coming up. Let her float. No, let us up un- 
til the bag steadies. W e may get a better air 
current at four or better.’’ But the higher 
they got the more antics the sausage cut 
up. ^^I hope she ^lolds. Listen to me !” he 
shouted in the lad’s ear. ^^If anything goes 
wrong you’ll have to jump, but don’t go over 
until I tell you to, and if you have to, climb 
over the side and let go. Don’t worry, the 
parachute will take care of you.” 

^^Yes, my Major. It is such a quiet day.” 

The major haw-hawed, for the boy was re- 
peating his own words. A flash of light- 
ning was followed by a terriflc crash. It 
seemed to be right on top of them and the 
balloonist cast a quick glance upward to see 
if the sausage had been damaged. Appar- 
ently it had not. Following the thunder- 
clap the rain fell in a perfect deluge, sweep- 
ing them in the heavy gusts of wind, Ailing 
their eyes so that it was with difficulty that 
they could see a thing. 


115 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FKAISTCE 


^^Down, but watch it/’ ordered the major 
over the telephone. she strains too 
hard, let up.” 

Once more it seemed to Victor as if the 
balloon was dropping from under him. It 
was whipping and twisting and diving like 
a thing possessed — and then sudden steadi- 
ness and calm sailing. It was like being in 
another world and Victor breathed a deep 
sigh of relief. 

^We are adrift,” shouted the major. 
^The cable has broken and we’re drifting 
toward the Boche lines. We’ve got to go 
over, boy, unless you prefer to get carried 
over there and shot down. Now over with 
you. Take hold of the basket and drop 
straight down and you will have easy going 
in a few seconds. Over with you.” 

^^Yes, my Officer, after you,” was the calm 
reply. 

^^Over with you, I say!” thundered the 
major, but the boy squared himself stub- 
bornly. 

There was no time to be lost, and the 
116 


AN ADVENTUEE IN THE SKIES 


major, apparently in a rage at the disobedi- 
ence of his orders, grasped little Victor un- 
der the arms and lifted him clear of the 
basket, first having slipped a knife into his 
hand. 

^^Cut loose just before you reach the 
ground, but not too soon, mind you. Good 
luck. Let’s go !” 

With that he let go, and the plucky boy 
shot down through space. Victor fell like 
a plummet, miles it seemed to him, before 
the parachute opened, and he began to soar 
easily and quite comfortably. It was more 
than four thousand feet from his starting 
point to the earth, almost a mile. After a 
little Victor mustered up enough courage to 
open his eyes and look down. He closed 
them again very quickly, for the sight was a 
terrifying one, and to make it more so he 
saw himself falling into a cloud, a low- 
hanging cloud that had been swept down on 
him by the wind. Through the cloud he 
dropped, and steadily on toward the earth. 

Now he became conscious that something 


117 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FKANCE 


was near him. It was the major, who, be- 
ing heavier, had caught up with him and was 
slowly settling below the boy. The major 
waved a hand at him as he passed, and yelled 
something that Victor did not catch. 

The earth now seemed to be rising to meet 
them, but by this time Victor had forgotten 
all about the directions to cut the rope that 
held him to the parachute when he got near 
the ground. He could see the ground crew 
down there a little to the east of him, their 
upturned faces looking white despite their 
tan, as they watched the descent of man and 
boy. He saw the major wave to them, so 
Victor waved, though far from being in a 
waving mood. Then his feet touched the 
ground. 

Never had the ground felt so good be- 
neath them, and the lad was about to utter 
a shout of joy when those feet were jerked 
from under him. So great was his surprise 
at the sudden turn that he did not pause to 
think what it meant. It meant that he was 
being dragged by the parachute. 


118 


AN ADVENTUEE IN THE SKIES 


Througli seas of mud, over fences, througli 
prickly buskes, was little Victor dragged 
and whipped, slammed into shell holes, and 
hauled over barbed wires. If there was 
anything in the landscape that he did not 
hit it was too small to be of consequence. 
A soldier who tried to stop him was mussed 
in the mud and Victor went floating on his 
way. 

What everything else had failed to do for 
him a stone fence did. His mad career 
ended right there, and the parachute, with 
the wind spilled out of it, rolled over on the 
opposite side of the fence and collapsed into 
an inoffensive heap of thin silk. 

Men came running and picked him up. 
The boy was stunned, and, they believed, 
seriously hurt. Before they had reached 
the emergency dressing station with him, 
Victor roused himself sufficiently to speak. 

^^Is — is the major — did he get down?’’ he 
asked. 

^Wes, but he got his, too,” answered one 
of the men. ^‘Why didn’t you cut loose?” 


119 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FKANCE 


— I forgot it.’’ 

^^Humph! A couple of ^duds.’ Neither 
one thought about cutting loose.” 

^^Hello, little bird-man. Have a happy 
landing?” called the cheery voice of the 
major as the surgeon was thumping his ribs 
to see how many were broken. 

think I hit everything in sight, my 
Officer. Yes, sir, I am all right, but I for- 
got to cut loose.” 

^^That’s all right. I dropped my knife be- 
fore I was half way down. I guess you 
didn’t do any worse than I did. Anything 
broken?” 

^^Only my arm, sir. I think it must be 
broken.” 

^^Humph ! Only your arm broken? Well, 
son, you and I are in for a few weeks in 
Blighty, but we did have some real sport out 
of our little journey in the skies, didn’t we?” 

^^Yes, Monsieur, we did, even if it was a 
quiet day.” 

The major groaned. 


120 


CHAPTEK X 


^^FOR EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM^’ 


Georges Grbmont was an orphan at thir- 
teen. 

He was reared on a farm, and lived on a 
farm with his father and mother until a 
Hun airman dropped a bomb on the house. 
Out of the wreckage came but one person, 
and that person was Georges the sturdy, 
badly mauled and mussed, but with the 
spirit of a Frenchman still rising supreme 
above his hurts. 

Georges was taken to an American hos- 
pital well back of the lines after lying out 
on the ground for more than a day, but his 
hardy constitution helped him on to an 
early recovery. 

While still a patient, but able to be about, 
he assisted the hospital workers in many 

121 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FKANCE 


little ways, made friends with the ambu- 
lance drivers, and learned how to operate 
an automobile. Having spent his life on a 
farm, he was apt at picking up anything 
that had to do with machinery. Georges 
made many short journeys with the drivers, 
but had never been with any of them out to 
the front lines. It was his great desire to 
do so, to be out where the shot and shell 
were flying, and to do something to help 
drive the Huns back, for he was a patriot to 
the bone. 

He determined to go out there and do his 
bit, however small that bit might be, but his 
request to be allowed to accompany an am- 
bulance driver was flrmly refused. 

‘^^N'o place for boys out there,” answered 
the driver, a particular friend and admirer 
of the lad. 

Georges said no more about it, but was 
none the less determined to get to the front, 
and to get there that night. The lad loi- 
tered about the ambulances until shortly 
after dark, when his friend was ordered out, 


122 


'TOE EXTKAOEDINAEY HEEOISM’’ 


then Georges moved quickly. It was a 
simple matter for him to slip into the rear 
of the ambulance and hide under the 
blankets, which he did without being dis- 
covered, and a moment later the car started. 
Little Georges was on his way to the front, 
to the realization of his heart’s greatest de- 
sire. 

It was a rough ride, for the road in many 
places was pitted with shell holes and 
marked by ruts left by the heavy trucks, of 
which there was a long procession moving 
in both directions. Xow and then a shell 
fell and exploded, some so near that the am- 
bulance rocked until Georges feared it 
would topple over, but in such instances the 
driver put on more speed and dashed on out 
of the peril of the moment. 

The car halted with a jolt that threw him 
on his face. Peering out, Georges saw 
shells bursting in the road ahead of them. 
It was a barrage, but he did not know this. 
The lad watched with fascinated eyes while 
the driver waited for the barrage to stop or 


123 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FKANCE 


to shift. It did neither, it came straight 
on np the road toward the waiting ambu- 
lance. Trucks and other vehicles were get- 
ting out of the road where this was possible, 
and drivers were deserting their trucks 
where it was not possible to jump a ditch 
with them, but the ambulance driver sat 
motionless, waiting. 

As to what happened in the next few min- 
utes, little Georges never had a clear idea. 
He knew that there was a tremendous up- 
heaval and a mighty crash close at hand. 
When he woke up the ambulance lay on its 
side in a roadside ditch, while to the rear of 
him, drawn to one side of the road, stood 
another ambulance that had been following 
them. 

Georges’ first thought was for his friend 
the driver, and, crawling out, he went 
around to the front of the car. He found 
his driver stretched out at the edge of the 
road, mortally wounded. The boy knelt 
down and stroked the wounded driver’s 
head. 


124 


^^FOE EXTKAOKDmAEY HEEOISM’’ 


it you, Georges?” he murmured. 

^^Yes, Monsieur. I hid myself in the car 
and came with you. What can I do? I 
must help you.” 

‘^Xo, kiddie, you can’t help me. I’ve got 
mine. Eun back and see if you can find the 
driver following us. He may have another 
man with him.” 

Georges sped away on fieet foot, return- 
ing in a few minutes to report that the 
driver of the second ambulance lay dead in 
his car. 

^^00 bad, poor fellow. Listen, Georges, 
there are men out there who will die if they 
are not taken in. Are you patriot enough 
to go in with the car and take a load back 
to the hospital, knowing that you may be 
killed on the way?” 

^^Georges is a Frenchman,” answered the 
lad, squaring his shoulders. ^^But I can- 
not leave you. Monsieur. Let me put you 
in the car and take you back.” 

The dying driver refused with such em- 
phasis as he could summon. 

125 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FKANCE 


now. Cross tlie bridge over the river 
and take the first turn to the right. You 
will find it hot there, very hot.” 

^^It is hot here, Monsieur.” 

^^You will not think so. Then ask your 
way to dressing station 107. If you can 
keep on the road and don’t get hit, you will 
have no trouble. Tell them at the hospital 
what has happened to me. I’ve done my 
bit and I’m satisfied, tell them. You are a 
brave boy; give me your hand, Georges. 
Yow go. Kemember it is for France,” he 
said, after a silent clasp of the hand. 

^^And for the brave Americans,” added 
the little fellow, who, without another word, 
ran back to the second car. He dragged 
out the dead driver as tenderly as he could, 
then, getting in, started ahead, the motor 
being still in motion. Knowing the car as 
well as he did he needed no light, and de- 
voted his entire attention to the dark road 
ahead of him. Georges did not pause nor 
look to the right when passing the spot 
Where lay his friend who was about to make 


126 


'^FOK EXTKAOKDIISrAEY HEKOISM’’ 


the supreme sacrifice that a man can make 
for his country. 

Tears were trickling down the little fel- 
low’s cheeks. He brushed them out of his 
eyes and shook his head vigorously. There 
was work, noble work, ahead for Georges, 
the brave little patriot. He l^iandled the 
caF'skillfully and guided it with a sure hand 
on the wheel, dodging what traffic there was 
at that point, and avoiding dangerous spots 
in the road, his whole mind centered on the 
work in hand. 

A soldier halted him sharply. 

^The bridge is just ahead,” said the sol- 
dier. ^Tt is under heavy fire, and I don’t 
think you can make it. Wait here a few 
moments and then, when there is a lull, go 
through at high speed. There are some 
wounded men near the bridge, I don’t know 
how many.” 

^^We will get them. Come, let’s go.” 

^Wou’re right, kid. Yes, let’s go.” 

Then the man and the boy hurried down 
the highway toward the bridge, a small 

127 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FKANCE 


bridge over a narrow stream tbat bore tbe 
dignified name of river. It was bot there. 
It was terrible. Georges never bad real- 
ized tbat war could be so terrible. He fal- 
tered, but only for a few seconds, then, witb 
bead well down, be breasted tbe storm. 
Nearing tbe bridge they got down and 
crawled, tbe soldier dragging behind him 
tbe light stretcher tbat be bad brought 
along. 

Tbe soldier found a seriously wounded 
American before they got to tbe bridge, and 
witb tbe help of tbe boy got tbe man on tbe 
stretcher. 

Six times, through tbat bail of shells, did 
Georges and tbe soldier make a trip to tbe 
ambulance without either of them getting so 
much as a flesh wound. 

Leaping into tbe car tbe lad started 
ahead, slowly at first, then witb increasing 
speed as be got on firmer footing, for min- 
utes lost might mean tbe death of tbe brave 
fellows back in tbe car, but from whom not 
a groan bad escaped, so far as be bad beard. 


128 


^^FOK EXTEAOEDINAEY HEEOISM’’ 


He reached the hospital in good time and 
there reported the death of the two ambu- 
lance drivers. He was commended for his 
bravery, then, without asking for permis- 
sion to do so, jumped into his car and 
started away on his second trip to the lines. 

Eeaching the bridge without mishap he 
found another soldier there, to keep traffic 
informed as to the condition of the bridge. 
Georges asked where the man was who had 
been there before, and was informed that he 
had been killed about an hour earlier. 

Georges shuddered. This was war. The 
fire was still heavy all about them, but, after 
learning that all the rest of the wounded 
men on his side of the bridge had gone back 
to a dressing station in a camion (army 
truck), he decided to start for emergency 
station 107. 

The little driver went across the bridge 
like a projectile. The top of his car, as he 
discovered later, was riddled with machine- 
gun bullets. On the opposite side of the 
river the road was protected somewhat by a 

^Little Soldiers of France. 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FEANCE 


rise of ground on tlie enemy side, but shells 
were bursting there at intervals, making 
every step of the way extremely perilous for 
the young driver. 

At the dressing station they were amazed 
to see the stubbed, red-cheeked lad who an- 
nounced that he had come for a load of 
wounded, but the surgeons and orderlies 
were too busy to question him. An orderly 
assisted in the loading of another batch of 
wounded, and Georges started back. 

He passed over the bridge in safety. The 
second load of wounded was landed at the 
hospital, and Georges swept out of the yard 
on his way for a third load. 

He was again successful. Five trips 
were made. At the end of the fifth he stag- 
gered into the hospital and asked for a 
drink of water. A surgeon, glancing up 
from his work, shot a keen look at Georges. 

^Take care of that boy. He is all in. 
Don’t let him go out again. I think you 
have been hit.” 

Georges shook his head. 


130 


'^FOE EXTKAOKDINAEY HEEOISM’’ 


must go,” lie said. ^There is no one 
else to go, is there?” 

The surgeon shook his head, and an as- 
sistant, leading Georges to a cot, laid him 
down and gave him a brief examination. 

^This boy has been wounded in five places, 
sir,” he said. ^^Two of his wounds are seri- 
ous. When did you get them, — coming 
back?” demanded the assistant. 

— I don’t know. I — I thi — ^ink it was 
the trip be — be — ^before.” And then he 
fainted, from loss of blood, the surgeons 
said. 

When Georges woke up he was on the 
operating table, where the surgeons had 
been probing for bullets and pieces of shrap- 
nel. One arm was gone, though he did not 
know it. It was the left arm, which was so 
shattered that it could not be saved. How 
the boy could have driven the ambulance 
home with an arm in that condition the sur- 
geons could not imagine. Georges did not 
know how he did it ; in fact, he did not think 
much about that phase of it, nor did the 


131 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FEANCE 


compliments and the attention that were 
paid him turn his head in the least. 

The boy was in bed for a few weeks before 
he was allowed to sit up. One day, while he 
was still in his cot, there came glorious 
news. The Americans were giving the 
Boches a terrible grilling, and it was a ques- 
tion of only a short time before the cruel 
enemy must give up. With the news came 
an official envelope, which a nurse opened, 
and read the contents to him. What he 
heard was this : 

‘The Commander-in-Chief of the Amer- 
ican Expeditionary Forces, in the name of the 
President of the United States, has awarded 
the Distinguished Service Cross as follows : 
Georges Gremont. For extraordinary hero- 
ism under fire. Though only a boy, who, in 
his desire to get to the front, had stolen a 
ride in an ambulance going up, after two 
drivers had been killed he took the one re- 
maining ambulance and went on for the 
wounded. Five journeys to the line were 
made that night, four crossings of the 

132 


^^FOE EXTKAOKDINAEY HEEOISM” 


Fismes bridge under heavy fire, artillery 
and machine gun. It is almost unbeliev- 
able that a man could have crossed that ex- 
posed spot and live, but the little French 
boy accomplished it eight times. On one of 
the journeys, he does not know when or 
where, he was wounded five times, a wound 
in the left arm necessitating removing that 
member. The heroic devotion of this lad to 
the cause for which American soldiers are 
fighting has been an inspiration to every 
man of the American Expeditionary 
Forces.’’ 

The voice of the nurse filled up as she 
read the concluding words, and leaning over 
she kissed the little French lad on the fore- 
head. He had turned his head away and 
was weeping silently, not because of his 
own glory, but for France, whose glory was 
greater than all else. 


133 


CHAPTEE XI 


ALL FOR FRANCE 


Pauline asked tke Padre what an ammu- 
nition dump was. 

He told ker that an ammunition dump 
was a big pile of shells for the artillery, and 
that the Germans must have one near the 
village, for their big guns in the forest and 
in the fields were firing, part of the day and 
part of the night, every day in the week. 
He wished to know why she asked. 

^Tauline wished to know. Long shiny 
things, round and pointed at one end, 
Padre?” 

“Yes, my daughter. But why do you 
ask?” 

“I saw many such things over by the 
forest to-day, all laid in rows, and when 
I became curious and sought to go closer 


134 


ALL FOE FEANCE 


to see what it was that soldiers were guard- 
ing, a Boche drove me away with a bayonet. 
Are those the things that the Boches shoot 
at our brave friends, the Americans off yon- 
der, Padre?’’ 

^^Yes, my daughter, but you should not 
trouble your little head about these instru- 
ments of war.” 

^ Would — is there not danger that all may 
explode at once?” 

^^Great danger, especially if one of the 
American airmen were to discover the vast 
collection of shells and drop a bomb on 
them.” 

^^Ah ! Would not that be glorious?” cried 
the little girl, clapping her hands. ^^How I 
should love to see the Boches run ! Surely, 
Padre, little Pauline would be sick from 
laughter. Our good friends, the Amer- 
icans, would laugh with us, would they 
not?” 

cannot say. The Americans are good 
people. They do not laugh at death, though 
they are bold as the warriors of old. I am 


135 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FKANCE 


told tliat with women and children they are 
gentle as sons and brothers, but to the 
enemy they are fierce, giving no quarter nor 
asking it. It is such as these that have 
come to save France in her hour of need, my 
daughter.” 

^^Yes, Padre, I know, and Pauline loves 
them as she loves the poilus of France. 
Would a small bomb serve to blow up the 
ammunition dump of the Huns, Padre?” 

should not like to be near when one was 
dropped even within a few meters of such a 
dangerous spot.” 

The thought that those same shells that 
she had seen just at the edge of the forest, 
when she had gone there to sell cakes to the 
officers, were to be fired at the American 
soldiers — that these same shells were cer- 
tain to maim and kill the defenders of 
France — fired her whole being. 

‘Lt shall not be! Pauline must save 
them, but she does not yet see the way. It 
will come. The good Father will help her 
and show her the way.” 


136 


ALL FOE FEANCE 


The way did not suggest itself, nor did 
any small voice in her inner consciousness 
suggest a method to accomplish what had 
become the passion of the little girPs life. 

As the guns boomed day after day, 
Pauline moved about in a small section of 
the German lines, selling her wares. She 
was watched, but, of course, was not per- 
mitted to go where all except soldiers were 
barred. The ammunition dump was a pro- 
hibited area, except, as she had noticed, in 
times of heavy bombardment, and then 
everybody was busy. 

Pauline learned many things about the 
war, for she was an apt pupil. She had 
learned how a big cannon was fired, had 
learned how the sights on an army rifie 
were adjusted, and something about eleva- 
tion and windage; had handled a hand 
grenade, and was taught how to release the 
firing pin, and the position assumed by the 
bomb-thrower when about to hurl the deadly 
missile. 

Of course the Hun artillery was some dis- 
137 


LITTLE SOLDIERS OF FRANCE 


tance to the rear of the Grerman trenches. 
Now and then a few American prisoners 
would be brought back. Fine, upstanding 
fellows they were, who looked their captors 
squarely in the eyes and refused gruffly to 
answer any questions about the American 
army. Pauline’s heart went out to these 
brave fellows, but there was nothing that 
she could do for them. 

Pauline spoke with the Padre about them, 
the one sympathetic listener to whom she 
could unburden her soul, and one day she 
put a peculiar question to him : 

^Tadre, is it a wicked thing to do when 
one does something that he knows or is sure 
will end his life, if that something be for 
the good of his country?” 

‘^You have asked me a difflcult question, 
my daughter. I will answer it by saying that 
a million or more brave men have done that 
very thing, and they are honored and their 
names will go down in history as the bravest 
and best of their race. Yes, my daughter,” 
he added, rising and raising both hands 

138 


ALL FOR FRA^^rCE 


above bis bead, die for France is blessed. 
Would that I might serve ber by so doing!’’ 

Pauline went away, smiling and bappy. 
It was not wrong to give one’s life for 
France, glorious, beautiful France. 

Sbe continued ber visits to tbe artillery 
sector and to tbe headquarters of tbe Ger- 
man staff, selling ber cakes, and one day at 
tbe headquarters sbe found that for which 
sbe bad been in search, a little oval metal 
object that might have been an egg so far as 
its shape was concerned, but was not. This 
object sbe bid in a pocket of ber dress and 
returned to tbe village. It was a quiet 
afternoon on tbe sector, and so were tbe 
three days following ; then tbe battle of tbe 
big guns opened in earnest. 

Tbe opening gun was fired one morning 
just at daylight, and was promptly an- 
swered by tbe American guns. It was said 
in tbe village that a big battle was being 
waged out there at tbe front. Certain it 
was that every piece of German artillery 
near tbe village was in action. 

139 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FKANCE 


The Hun artillerists were too busy to buy 
cakes at first, but after a little she disposed 
of most of her wares, and then strolled back 
into the forest. The men were too busy to 
give heed to the little figure in white, and 
Pauline roved almost at will, going deeper 
into the forest and circling until she was 
near the piles of shining projectiles. 

One of the child’s hands was hidden in the 
folds of her white dress as she stood behind 
a tree, listening to the crashings of the 
American shells as they exploded in the 
forest. She wondered why some of these 
did not hit the ammunition dump and blow 
it up. As a matter of fact, this was exactly 
what the American gunners were feeling for 
— the ammunition dump. Had she known 
this, little Pauline could have gone her way 
in peace. 

!N'ow she stepped from behind the tree and 
crept toward the pile of big projectiles. 
Her right hand, now drawn from the folds 
of her dress, held the egg-shaped object. It 
was a deadly hand grenade, a bomb. 


140 


ALL FOR FRAA^CE 


Pauline drew the cotter pin from it and 
pressing the grenade in her hand, held the 
firing pin down with her thumb. The 
slightest release of that pressure would 
cause the bomb to explode six seconds later. 
Pauline stood poised for a minute, her eyes 
bright, her face fiushed. 

^^For France and for the brave Amer- 
icans who will save her,’’ murmured the girl. 
Suddenly, throwing her body into position, 
she hurled the grenade straight into a huge 
pile of powerful shells. The bomb exploded 
with a loud report. 

Pauline knew that it would be fruitless to 
try to escape. She could not hope to get far 
enough away to save herself before the ex- 
plosion came. Then, again, she was too 
proud to run, and there she stood, all alone, 
hands upraised, a pathetic little figure. It 
was but a moment that she had to wait. 
The explosion of the dump followed almost 
immediately, a tremendous, earth-quaking 
explosion, followed in succession by numer- 
ous other explosions. Trees were torn up 


141 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FKANCE 


by tbe roots and hurled long distances, 
great holes were dug in the earth in the for- 
est, and in the village, more than a mile 
away, every window was smashed, doors 
were blown open and people were thrown 
flat on the ground. 

Pauline, a pathetic figure, was enveloped 
in a cloud of black smoke, and when it 
finally cleared she was nowhere to be seen. 
She had given her all for France, given it 
with a heart overflowing with happiness 
that she had so much to give. 

Off yonder in the American lines the ar- 
tillerymen were congratulating each other 
that they had searched out and blown up 
the German ammunition dump, and it was 
not until a few days later, when the Amer- 
icans took the position and the village, that 
they learned from a wounded German sol- 
dier, who had witnessed her act, the real 
story of Pauline’s sacrifice. To this the 
Padre added what the little patriot had 
said to him, showing that she had had this 
desperate plan in mind for some time, and 


142 


THE BOY WHO CAME BACK 


that she was only awaiting a favorable op- 
portunity to strike a blow for Liberty and 
for France. 


CHAPTEE XII 


THE BOY WHO CAME BACK 


^The Boches are unusually quiet to- 
night/’ observed the major, speaking to 
several of his officers in the dugout where 
they were poring over a map. ^^Here comes 
little Gabriel with the warm drinks.” 

A short, stubbed little fellow, his face 
wrinkled into a twisted smile, had at that 
juncture entered with a can of coffee for the 
major’s midnight mess. The night being 
quiet, Gabriel had been permitted to accom- 
pany the food-carriers through the long tor- 
tuous trenches to the front line, this being 
the second time he had been permitted to go 


143 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FKANCE 


up where the Americans were holding the 
first line in the great Champagne offensive 
in which the Germans were being driven 
slowly back. 

Gabriel had been left an orphan by the 
war and had attached himself unofficially to 
this particular unit of the American Expe- 
ditionary Forces, where, in the billets, he 
made himself useful in many little ways. 

On this particular night he was a happy 
lad, because he was up at the front, plodding 
through the sticky mud, every little while 
slipping off the duck boards at the bottom 
of the trenches, all of which was real pleas- 
ure to him. The night was very black, a 
fine, cold rain was falling, and the sentries 
on the fire-step were wet, cold and not any 
too good-natured. The monotony of the 
night was broken now and then as the 
Americans sent up a Vary light, which 
soared up into the blackness and lighted all 
that tangled space between the lines known 
as ^^No Man’s Land.” Not a sign of life out 
there was revealed by the lights. 


144 



HE I'AUTED THE CURTAIN 











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THE BOY WHO CAME BACK 


is my opinion tliat tlie Bodies are 
planning something/’ continued the major. 
^^Have any prisoners been brought in this 
evening?” 

^^No. Ko patrols have been out. Shall I 
send out a patrol?” 

think not. We are ready for them if 
they come, which they won’t do until just 
before daylight, if at all. How is the coifee, 
Gabriel?” 

^^Hot, Monsieur, if you drink it now.” 

The officers helped themselves to the hot 
drink with eagerness. 

^^Gabriel can find out what the Boches are 
doing,” suggested the boy. 

^Wes ?” said the major smilingly. ^^How?” 

^^By going over there and seeing with his 
eyes. Monsieur.” 

^Wou are a brave little fellow, Gabriel, 
but I should deserve to be court-martialed 
were I to permit you to do such a thing.” 

^^Thank you. Monsieur,” returned the lad 
politely. After they had had their fill of 
coffee, he left the dugout and went on to dis- 

10— Little Soldiers of France 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FRANCE 


tribute tbe rest of his refreshment to others, 
after which he was to join the food-carriers 
and return to the billets with them. 

Gabriel did not propose to go back; at 
least not just yet. The major wished cer- 
tain information, and who better could be 
spared to get it than little Gabriel? 

His daring plan Avas to cross No Man’s 
Land and spy on the German trenches. He 
did not think far enough to realize that the 
sentries, knowing that there were no patrols 
out, would shoot at him on sight. 

The boy finally found his opportunity in a 
communicating trench which, at a certain 
point, for the moment was deserted. He 
laid his coffee can down and crawled over 
the top. A moment more and he was out of 
sight in the darkness. Not knowing where 
the openings were in the barbed wires, 
through which the night patrols went out, 
Gabriel had a pretty rough time of it, and 
he had not gone far, crawling under the 
wires, before his clothes were much torn 
from contact with the prongs on the wires. 


14G 


THE BOY WHO CAME BACK 


The distance between the lines was but a 
few hundred yards, but it took Gabriel 
nearly an hour to get across. At last he 
found himself at the outer edge of the Boche 
front-line trench, where he crouched down 
and listened. He could hear his heart- 
beats, and they sounded so loud that he 
feared the German sentries would hear 
them too. The boy after a little began to 
realize that the trench was strangely silent. 
Not a sound or a movement could he hear in 
it. Peering over into the trench he discov- 
ered that it was empty at that point. 

^^Gabriel must go find the cowardly 
Boches,’’ he muttered under his breath, and, 
crawling cautiously over the parapet, he 
slid down on the slippery mud and landed 
on his feet in the trench. Still no signs of 
German sentries. 

Gabriel made his way cautiously along 
the trench, halting only when he heard 
voices, which he traced to a dugout. A 
blanket over the entrance to it shut out the 
light of a candle, as he discovered by part- 

147 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FEANCE 


ing the curtain a fraction of an inch and 
peering in. He discovered that these were 
the only men in the front line trench, and 
that they had been left to keep the Amer- 
icans fooled while the main body of the Ger- 
mans retired to a stronger position some 
little distance to the rear. As a matter of 
fact, the Boches had retired to their third 
line, leaving one trench between their new 
position and their old front line. 

Having learned all that he could, the boy 
retraced his steps and climbed out of the 
trench, first possessing himself of a sentry’s 
rifle that lay across the top of the trench 
pointed toward the American lines. 

Dragging this behind him he started back. 
This return voyage was much easier than 
the outward one, for Gabriel was fortunate 
enough to find an opening in the wires. In 
fact, he reached his own lines before he real- 
ized that he had arrived. A stern command 
to halt caused him to throw himself on the 
ground, fully expecting to hear the report 
of a rifle. 


148 


THE BOY WHO CAME BACK 


shoot. It is only little Gabriel/^ 
he called softly. 

^^Come here!’’ commanded a voice out of 
the darkness. ‘^Hon’t make any quick 
moves unless you wish your head blown off- 
What are you doing out there?” 

^^Gabriel has been out getting some infor- 
mation for the major,” he replied, which 
was the truth, although the inference to be 
drawn from his answer was not strictly in 
accordance with the facts. am coming 
straight ahead.” 

The sentry, after looking the boy over, ad- 
mitted him to the trench, and, calling a mes- 
senger, sent the lad to the captain. 

^‘This boy came over the top, sir, carrying 
a Boche rifle,” explained the messenger. 

^Wes, Monsieur, I went over to their 
trenches and found that all but a few Boches 
had gone away. You can go over and get 
those few if you wish. They are in a dug- 
out, and the rest of the cowardly Huns have 
gone back to their third line, where they 
now are.” 


149 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FKANCE 


For a few seconds the officers were too 
amazed to speak. When they did speak, 
the major was too eager to have the infor- 
mation that Gabriel had brought, to think 
of rebuking him for disobeying orders. 

^^Tell me slowly and carefully just what 
you saw,’’ urged the major. 

This Gabriel did, omitting nothing and 
bringing approving nods from the officers. 

^^Most remarkable,” exclaimed the major. 
^^How many Boches are there in the dug- 
out?” 

^Ten, and they wish to be taken because 
they are hungry and tired of war. Gabriel 
could have brought them along, but he 
feared you might not like to have him do so. 
Gabriel went for information, not for pris- 
oners.” . 

^^Send a patrol out and fetch those men 
in,” commanded the major after a brief re- 
flection. ^^See that they exercise the usual 
care and caution, for, while the boy’s infor- 
mation appears to be most exact, it may be 
a trap.” 


150 


THE BOY WHO CAME BACK 


It was about an bour later when the pa- 
trol came in with the prisoners — ten grin- 
ning Boches — at the same time reporting 
that conditions in the German first line had 
been as the boy had reported. 

The prisoners were questioned sharply, 
and considerable information obtained 
from them. The information as to the re- 
tirements of the enemy was immediately 
telephoned back to headquarters, and a few 
minutes later a heavy fire from the artillery 
was being rained down on the third line of 
the German trenches, while the Americans 
moved up to the German first line, then on 
into the second line. Just before daylight, 
when the barrage lifted, they went over the 
top and drove the Huns from their fancied 
security, taking many prisoners, rifies and 
machine guns. 

Long before that little Gabriel was back 
in a safe place under orders never to disobey 
again under threat of dire punishment. 

In the report that the major made of the 
night^s work he said : 

151 


LITTLE SOLDIERS OF FRANCE 


^^Througli the pluck and keenness of a 
French boy, who managed to get to the 
enemy trenches, we were supplied with very 
exact information that enabled us to occupy 
the first and second enemy trenches, which 
led to driving him from the third. Many 
prisoners and much equipment were taken. 
I wish especially to commend this boy, a 
mere child, and to ask that he be taken care 
of, as he has neither father nor mother, nor, 
so far as he knows, any living relative. The 
making of a man is there.’’ 

Upon recommendation to the French au- 
thorities in due course arrangements were 
made for Gabriel to go to school. He 
thought he would like to be a sailor, and one 
day he will be started on the road to a career 
in the navy of his country. 

Gabriel was heart-broken that he had to 
leave the army, but it was not long after 
that when the Germans laid down their 
arms and he was satisfied, for he had done 
service for France and America in the short 
time that he had been with the troops. 


152 


CHAPTEK XIII 


ELISABETH AND HER GERMAN MULE 


From tlie lowliest mule skinner to the 
highest officer of the regiment, little Elisa- 
beth was a favorite with every one of the 
boys in khaki, and all of them were her 
^ffirave boys/’ 

The village of St. Kemy, where Elisabeth ' 
lived, was right on the line, the Americans 
holding the side that included the village, 
with the Huns a few yards from the edge of 
the village. 

Elisabeth’s mother did sewing for the 
American officers, mending their shirts and 
any other garments that were in need of re- 
pair. She would take no money for such 
services. Elisabeth herself was a fine little 
seamstress, and always, when she went out, 
her needles and thread and thimble went 


153 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FEA^^CE 


along. Whenever she saw a soldier whose 
clothes needed a stitch or two, she would 
order him to stand up and he mended. 

Elisabeth said all her boys must be 
patched and mended, and all their buttons 
sewed on tightly, before they made the 
drive Avhich was being looked forward to 
from day to day, not alone by the Amer- 
icans, but by the Germans as well. 

This drive began in a most unexpected 
way, and Elisabeth and a Missouri mule, 
which had been living in Germany so long 
that it had forgotten its own language, were 
responsible for starting the drive. 

The little seamstress had been taught by 
the cavalrymen to ride a horse, and, while 
timid at first, she became wholly fearless in 
the saddle. 

One day an artilleryman said he knew of 
a horse that Elisabeth could not ride. 
Elisabeth spiritedly told him that he did 
not. 

^^Tell you what ITl do,” said the artillery- 
man. ^^For every five minutes that you can 


154 


ELISABETH AND HEK GEBMAH MULE 


stay on January’s back after we give you 
the word to go, ITl give you a franc.” 

^ Jt is done. Show Elisabeth the horse.” 

It was late in the afternoon when they 
conducted her just back of the village, be- 
hind a slight rise of ground, where the artil- 
lery stock was tethered in shallow dugouts. 
From one of these dugouts they led out an 
object that sent the little Elisabeth into 
peals of laughter. 

What she saw was the sleepiest-looking 
animal she had ever looked upon. It was a 
mule, an animal born in Missouri and im- 
ported to Germany at the beginning of the 
war with a shipload of his kind. January 
had been captured from the Germans by 
the doughboys some time before the inci- 
dents related here occurred, but the mule 
had been with the Germans so long that he 
had forgotten American mule talk and he 
had to be taught all over again. The mule- 
skinners saw to it that his instruction was 
thorough, and January did not take kindly 
to the instruction. 


155 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FRANCE 


January’s temper was far from angelic 
on this particular occasion, as he had been 
led out before he had finished eating the 
oats placed before him for his evening meal. 
January made no sound, but the men knew 
by the way he laid his ears back and 
switched his feather-duster tail, that almost 
anything might be expected from the ani- 
mal, and they were full of joyous anticipa- 
tion. 

^^Remember, Elisabeth is to have a franc 
for every five minutes she stays on the 
mule’s back. Do I get a saddle?” she 
asked. 

^^No. You see January never has worn 
any fancy trimmings,” explained her 
tempter. ^^He is just an ordinary mule, 
you know. We will put a blanket on him, 
with a girth strapped around it to hold the 
blanket on, and you can hang to the strap if 
he gets fractious.” 

They assisted the girl up, but the mule did 
not budge when she gave him the command 
to start, and apparently paid not the slight- 


156 


ELISABETH AND HEK GEKMAN MULE 


est heed to the digs she gave him with the 
heels of her wooden shoes. 

Some one prodded January with a pin. 
That woke him up. He raised his head and 
uttered a long-drawn hee-haw. His heels 
went into the air, and Elisabeth slipped for- 
ward. He reared on his hind legs, and 
Elisabeth slid back to the mule’s rump, sav- 
ing herself from falling off only by fastening 
her hands on the girth. It was the most 
surprising experience of her life. 

January was off like a projectile, pausing 
now and then to kick and buck. Elisa- 
beth’s hair was flying and she was dizzy and 
a little sick from the ter rifle jolting she was 
getting, but she clung desperately. 

^^He’s heading for the Boche lines ! The 
critter is going home!” howled a soldier. 
^^Shoot him !” 

This they dared not do for fear of hitting 
the girl. The Germans, however, had no 
such compunctions. Evidently considering 
this some sort of trick that the enemy was 
13laying on them, they began shooting at the 


157 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FKANCE 


girl and the mule, and at the American lines 
as well. On plunged the mule, and as he 
leaped the Hun front line trench he fell in. 
Elisabeth landed on her head and shoulders 
in the German trench. 

It was then that the enemy saw that this 
was no trick, that it was a mere child who 
had come to them, but of course the Boches 
could not understand the meaning of it, 
which was not at all surprising. 

However, ere the Germans had had time 
to collect themselves their attention was 
drawn to sterner things. A wild battle yell 
sounded from the front, and, peering over 
the top of their trench, they saw charging 
down on them what some of the prisoners 
said afterwards seemed to be the whole 
United States Army. 

They were coming fast, were those dough- 
boys, and they were coming for one purpose, 
to rescue Elisabeth, who still lay where she 
had fallen, not unconscious, but stunned. 
She heard the yells and knew that the Amer- 
icans were coming. As for the mule, he 

158 


ELISABETH AND HEK GEKMAN MULE 


Lad ceased kicking, being now so tightly 
wedged in that kicking was too much of an 
effort. 

The Germans begg^n to shoot anew, but 
the doughboys did not fire a shot. They 
just came on in waves and swept into the 
German first line trench, which at that hour 
was not very strongly held. 

They cleaned out the trench in a few min- 
utes, prodding out the Huns with their 
bayonets and driving them toward the 
American line. Some one had grabbed up 
the girl in his arms and started back at a 
run, with a dozen men interposing their 
bodies between the two and the enemy lines. 

It was all accomplished within the short 
space of a dozen minutes. The Huns were 
so taken by surprise by the rapid turn of 
events that they did not fully realize what 
had taken place until some little time after 
it was all over. 

The Germans at once opened fire, the 
Americans drove forward and took the 
second trench, and a big fight was soon un- 


159 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FRANCE 


der way. It lasted three days and Uncle 
Sam’s boys made a big advance, and all on 
account of Elisabeth and her mule. How- 
ever, there was no more mule-riding for her. 
She and her village were soon far back of 
the American lines, and the villagers came 
out and went about their ordinary duties 
without having to fear German bullets. 

Elisabeth, after the Americans had 
pressed on, looked out for units passing 
through, and every day found her running 
along beside columns of marching men, ask- 
ing if they needed any mending. A good 
deal of this she did on the march, sometimes 
going out for a mile or two to finish some 
task she was at work on. This labor of love 
the little seamstress of St. Remy continued 
so long as there were troops in that vicinity. 
She endeared herself to many of them, and 
with her needle and thread proved herself 
as noble a patriot as any soldier fighting at 
the front for his country. 


160 


CHAPTER XIY 


CORPORAL LUCE, S.A. 


A STURDY little lad, wearing a livid scar 
on Ms left cheek, appeared at a Salvation 
Army hut on the Aisne. He said he was 
hungry and asked Pearl and Ruby, Salva- 
tion Army lassies, if he might have some- 
thing to eat if he would do some work for 
them. His name, he said, was Luce Menard, 
without a home. This, he said, had been 
destroyed by the Germans, and he did not 
Imow where his parents were. He said the 
scar on his cheek was the result of a thrust 
of a German bayonet and that he wanted to 
fight the cowardly Boches, but that the 
French would not have him because he was 
too young. 

came to the Americans, the brave 
Americans, and asked if I might join them 

11— Little Soldiers of France. 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FKANCE 


and fight for France/’ he continued. ^They 
were kind, but, like the French, they shook 
their heads and said I was too young.” 

The Salvation Army girls fed the little 
fellow, stuffed him full, and while he was 
eating, husky mud-covered young American 
soldiers came in for doughnuts and coffee. 
Every one of these fighting Yankees spoke 
to him and said, “Hello, kid.” 

It was late in the evening, so they told 
him he might clean up the fioor, which task 
he went at with eagerness, getting down on 
his knees and scrubbing, then cleaning the 
windows, while the girls cooked doughnuts 
and pies for the rush of the coming day. 

Luce was permitted to sleep on the fioor 
in a blanket, but was up before daylight and 
had the fires started before the girls awak- 
ened. All that day he worked, for there 
Avas much to be done, and did not stop to eat 
until after dark. 

Early in the evening they sent him to a 
dugout Avith hot coffee and doughnuts for 
some officers. He reached the place by Avay 


162 


COKPOKAL LUCE, S.A. 


of a communicating trencL and delivered 
Ms goods and returned. It was a new ex- 
perience to be out there in the darkened 
trench where keen eyes were watching, 
where now and then a night patrol slipped 
silently away into the darkness of No 
Man’s Land to perform desperate deeds, a 
venture from which some and perhaps all 
might not return. 

From that time on little Luce was a fix- 
ture with the Salvation Army hut. A red 
badge was given to him to wear on his arm, 
and he was addressed as ^Uorporal” by the 
lassies. Pearl and Euby were very fond of 
him; the doughboys liked him because he 
was quick-witted and intelligent, and en- 
joyed a joke at his expense as thoroughly 
as if it had been on some one else. His 
trips to the trenches became more regular, 
now and then in the daytime. This was 
even more interesting to Luce, for he occa- 
sionally was permitted to peer over the top 
through a periscope. Once he held”up his 
little cap above the top to see what would 

163 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FKANCE 


happen. When he jerked it down a second 
or two later there was a hole through it, 
made by a German sniper’s bullet. That 
taught him a lesson, the lesson of caution, 
and he learned that the really brave man 
never exposed himself needlessly ; but that, 
when necessity demands that he do so, none 
was more willing to make a mark of him- 
self for enemy bullets than the American 
soldier. 

A big battle was at hand and the Salva- 
tion Army lassies knew it, not from being 
told by word of mouth, but because their in- 
tuition told them a big strike was about to 
be made. Consequently they baked and 
they cooked without rest and without sleep, 
for the brave fellows, when they went over 
the top, would need all the little cheer that 
the two girls could give them. 

Luce, being in on the secret, was all eager- 
ness, and determined that he would at last 
not only see a real fight, but that he would 
be a part of it. When the battle opened 
with the firing of the big guns one morning 

164 


COKPOEAL LUCE, S.A. 


just before daylight, be was in the trenches 
with a can of cocoa strapped over his back, 
busily engaged pouring the hot drink into 
the cups of the men, who were restlessly 
awaiting the order to go over the top. The 
hot cocoa helped to take their minds from 
the ordeal that was immediately before 
them. 

Then the order to go was given, and the 
men poured over the top. ‘Uorporal” Luce 
and his can of cocoa went with them. In 
the darkness, and among so many, he was 
unobserved by the officers. When a man fell, 
as many men did, the boy was beside him, 
either giving him water or cocoa according 
to the wishes of the wounded one, running 
for stretcher-bearers to get the man, or, if 
the man could walk, assisting him back to 
the trenches, then going back to the hut for 
a fresh supply of cocoa. 

Day dawned and the battle was still rag- 
ing. It continued all day, the Americans 
capturing the first line of the German 
trenches. They had gone beyond that, but 

165 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FKAISTCE 


they were obliged to fall back to the 
trenches. Up there with the fighters was 
the ^^Little Corporal.” It was a long jour- 
ney for him to get back to the hut, but he 
made it a number of times. Late in the 
afternoon faint calls were heard from a 
shell hole about half way across No Man’s 
Land. If there were men there they had 
had nothing to eat or drink for many hours, 
and Luce concluded that it was time they 
had something. 

Adjusting his cocoa can on his back, to 
which he tied a bundle of doughnuts, the boy 
started out bravely. Soldiers called to him 
to come back, but the ^^Little Corporal” did 
not appear to hear them, and crawled along, 
seeking cover where he could find it, when 
the machine-gun fire got too hot for him. 
It was a desperate undertaking, but Luce’s 
principal concern was for his can of cocoa. 
After all this trouble he didn’t wish to lose 
it, nor did he. He reached the shell hole, 
where he found a wounded sergeant and two 
privates, also wounded. 


166 


COKPOEAL LUCE, S.A. 


^Uocoa?’’ lie questioned. 

The cheerful voice of the “Little Cor- 
poraF’ sounded heavenly sweet to those suf- 
fering men. Luce talked to them, and fed 
them, and examined their wounds, so that 
he might take word back to their officers as 
to what their condition was. It was serious 
in the case of the privates. The sergeant 
told him that there were some men in a shell 
hole further ahead — wounded men, if they 
were not already dead. He said he had not 
heard from them for some time, so Luce said 
he would go over and find out if he could 
do anything, and started out bravely. 

He had not gone far when a bullet cut 
through his cocoa can and let out the hot 
liquid, which saturated his blouse and fairly 
cooked his back. He struggled on, gritting 
his teeth, though there were tears in his 
eyes, for the pain of the burn was very 
great. 

Five men were in that shell hole. While 
he was there a shell exploded near at hand, 
killing two of them and half burying the 


167 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FEANCE 


rest, but tbe other three eagerly attacked 
the doughnuts and ate all he had. 

‘T will go back and fetch you some cocoa/^ 
announced the ^^Little Corporal.’’ 

^^You will never make it, boy,” said one 
wounded American, shaking his head. 
^^Better leave us alone. After dark they 
can come and get us.” 

‘Too late,” said another. “We shall be 
dead long before that. But this is war.” 

“Luce is not afraid. No Boche bullet can 
get him. He will come back and will bring 
the things you need,” declared the boy con- 
fidently. 

“If he is lucky,” answered a weak voice, 
the words ending in a groan. 

Luce was realizing more fully than ever 
what war is, and the knowledge made his 
heart sad — sad because of France and these 
brave Americans. That they could smile 
and joke when suffering agonies was a 
never-ending source of wonderment to him. 
None but the brave could be like that. 

The journey back to the lines was made in 

168 


COEPOEAL LUCE, S.A. 


safety, and he reported the names of the 
men out there and their condition. Luce 
did not say what he intended to do, hut re- 
turned to the hut. Just at dusk he was 
seen to enter the front line trench with a 
new can on his shoulders and a supply of 
doughnuts, which he pretended to distribute 
among the men in the trenches, though they 
got little of his supply. 

The little corporal knew that if he were 
seen attempting to go out into ISTo Man’s 
Land again he would be stopped. Orders 
to that effect had been issued and he had 
been forbidden to go out. He went despite 
these orders. Perhaps sentries found it 
convenient not to see him leave, and no one 
admitted that they had seen him go. Luce 
simply faded out of their range of vision, 
and the next that any one heard of him was 
when he slipped into the shell hole first vis- 
ited. He found only the sergeant alive. 

^Huce thinks he can help you back if you 
wish,” offered the lad. 

The sergeant, though he had been shot 


169 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FKANCE 


through both legs, was willing to be 
^^helped/’ and, despite the firing, which was 
still heavy, they set out. Stretcher-bearers 
came out to meet them near the American 
trenches, and again Luce slipped back into 
No Man’s Land. This time, after getting 
his supplies, which he had left in the shell 
hole, he went on to the next hole, where he 
fed and comforted the wounded men. He 
told them that stretcher-bearers would try 
to rescue them before morning, after the fir- 
ing had quieted down a little, and started to 
return. 

That was the last ever seen of the ‘^Little 
Corporal” alive. Shortly after leaving the 
shell-hole he was caught in a storm of 
machine-gun fire from the enemy trenches. 
Several stretcher-bearers were killed and 
others wounded, and it was believed that it 
was these that the Germans were firing at. 
Luce got some of the bullets. His cocoa 
can was riddled with bullet holes and his 
clothing was found to be saturated with 
what was left of the contents. And there 


170 


COKPOKAL LUCE, S.A. 


lie died, out in No Man’s Land, died like tke 
patriot lie was, serving his country, and to 
the last breath loyal to France and to the 
American soldier boys whom he had, in his 
heart, adopted as his own. 

The doughboys gave the ^^Little Corpo- 
ral” a military funeral, and his deeds were 
recorded in the official daily dispatches, an 
honor that Luce would have considered well 
worth dying for. 


171 


CHAPTEB XV 


THE FLAG OF FREEDOM 


Kose Anne Le Gal was lier name, and 
Kose Anne was as dainty as lier name — 
slight, fair, a gentle child of thirteen, whose 
dreams had been of pleasanter things than 
war. Yet when the war did engulf the little 
village of Lazard, in which she had been 
born and reared, the child developed into a 
little woman whose sweetness was more lov- 
able than ever. 

The Germans took possession of the vil- 
lage late in the war, robbed the inhabitants 
and perpetrated many outrages, and Kose 
Anne’s parents were not the least of the suf- 
ferers. As for Kose Anne herself, she was 
treated with such respect as the Huns knew 
how to employ toward women and children, 
meaning that they took all their food and 


172 


THE FLAG OF FEEEDOM 


valuables, used their bouse for a living 
place for the officers, and made the woman 
and the girl do their washing. It was when 
Eose Anne and her mother were ordered to 
cook the meals for the officers that they re- 
belled. Eose Anne did the talking. 

^The Boches will take what they wish, 
but they cannot compel a French woman to 
cook the food with which to fill their over- 
fed stomachs,’’ she made reply. ‘^One day 
the French and the good Americans will get 
you all, and they will punish you for the 
things that you have done.” 

For this straightforward speaking Eose 
Anne was punished by being locked in a 
closet for twenty-four hours. Not alone 
this, but a German sentry was stationed in 
the house to see that the orders were car- 
ried out and that no food and only two 
glasses of water were offered to her during 
the time of her imprisonment. 

The little girl came out of her prison smil- 
ing, though a little pale, but there was no 
smile in her eyes and none in her heart. 


173 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FKANCE 


Her one great ambition was now to see the 
poilus or the doughboys come marching in 
and the Boches marching out. long 

after that it became whispered about that 
all was not going well with the cause of the 
Fatherland, and that the American army 
was beating the Germans back slowly, but 
steadily, day by day. It was now, it was 
said, only a matter of days when the victo- 
rious army from across the sea would be 
there to drive the invaders out. 

This news made the little girl very happy. 
A French flag was already buried in the 
garden, to be brought out when the glorious 
day of their deliverance from the enemy ar- 
rived. Eose Anne said that if it was the 
Americans who were coming there surely 
must be an American flag to fly beside the 
tricolor of France. There being no Amer- 
ican flags in the village, so far as she was 
aware, one must be made. The girl did not 
know even what the Flag of Freedom looked 
like, so she appealed to the Padre. 

The Padre drew her a rough picture of 

174 


THE FLAG OF FEEEDOM 


the Stars and Stripes, writing ^^red’’ for the 
red stripes, ^Vhite’’ for the white stripes, 
for the blue field and ^Vhite” for the 
stars. He did not know how many stripes 
of red or white, or how many stars there 
should be on the fiag. 

Kose Anne went home with the precious 
picture, now thoroughly fixed in mind and 
ready to begin work on the emblem of Lib- 
erty. 

^The brave Americans will be surprised 
and pleased when they see what little Kose 
Anne has done,” she told herself. ^^The 
Boches will not be pleased,” she added after 
a moment’s refiection. 

From various pieces, or rather scraps, of 
cloth in the house the child cut out and 
sewed together the stripes. The stars were 
not easy to make and were all awry. There 
were ten large stars on the blue field when 
she had finished with them. As for the 
stripes. Rose Anne’s fiag had four red and 
five white stripes, instead of seven red and 
six white stripes. However, it was a fiag, 

175 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FEANCE 


and any person who knew the American flag 
would know that this was intended to be 
one. 

The little girl knew that she must be very 
secretive about the new flag. If the Ger- 
mans discovered what she was doing there 
was no telling what terrible punishment 
might be inflicted on her. But the flag was 
Anally completed in safety and placed with 
the French tricolor under the ground in the 
garden. 

Three weeks dragged their weary way 
along, and the German rule of the village 
became more and more unbearable. 
Finally they began to herd the older men 
and sort them out. The young men and 
most boys had gone away, some to war of 
their own accord, others taken by the Huns. 
The older men who were at all flt for work 
were sent away to work somewhere in Ger- 
many. To refuse to go probably would 
have been punished with death. Eose Anne 
observed that there was considerable hur- 
riedness about the enemy’s movements, and 

176 


THE FLAG OF FKEEDOM 


tlie villagers told lier the Americans would 
be driving them out at any moment now, 
yet when the change came it was with a sud- 
denness that was startling. 

The first intimation the villagers had of 
the change was when the Germans marched 
out at the eastern end at double-quick, and 
the Americans came swinging in at the 
western end of the village. 

The shouting of the people at the western 
side of the village warned the inhabitants 
that something unusual was occurring, and 
little Kose Anne interpreted the shouting 
correctly. 

^Tt is the brave Americans,’’ she cried, 
racing to the garden for the fiags. The 
French fiag was on a broomstick, but there 
was no staff for the Stars and Stripes, so 
the child fastened the staff of the tricolor 
under a window upstairs, then with the 
American fiag in her hands ran up to the 
roof, where she stood waving it and crying 
^^Yive V America!’’ 

There was cheering all through the vil- 

12— Little Soldiers of France. -| 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FKA:NrCE 


lage, and from almost every Lome there ap- 
peared like magic the tricolor of France. 
The leading regiment, well scattered over 
the street, was carefully feeling its way 
through the village when the little white 
figure on the roof waving an American fiag 
was discovered. The doughboys grinned 
their appreciation and continued on their 
cautious way, watching narrowly for Ger- 
man surprises. 

Firing from the German artillery was 
continuous. The American gunners to the 
rear were answering, and shells were soar- 
ing overhead with weird sounds. 

Suddenly the soldiers saw the little figure 
crumple up. The fiag dropped from her 
hands and fell into the street. It was 
quickly rescued by one of Uncle Sam’s boys 
and handed in at the door of the house. 
They did not know what had happened to 
the child, but a corporal who entered the 
house learned that she had been shot. It 
was believed that a sniper’s bullet had 
picked her off. 


178 


THE FLAG OF FEEEDOM 


The word was passed along down the line 
very quickly, and then the Yankee soldiers, 
uttering savage yells, charged on through 
the village, others around the village, and 
on out to the line to which the Germans had 
retreated. The doughboys swarmed down 
on the Huns, using bayonet and bomb, wip- 
ing them up, taking their trenches and put- 
ting them to flight. 

While all this was going on an American 
surgeon was working over little Kose Anne, 
who, he found, had been seriously wounded, 
but there was still hope for her. As soon 
as it was considered advisable to move her 
she was taken back to a base hospital, 
where, under the gentle care of American 
nurses and doctors, she was restored to 
health, though one arm, it was found, would 
be crippled for life. At the hospital the 
brave little child was idolized, and after the 
war was ended it was promised that, with 
her mother’s consent, little Kose Anne 
would go to America with some of the 
nurses, who proposed that she go to school 

179 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FEANCE 


in the United States for a few years, after 
Avhich she would return to her own native 
land, bringing with her the spirit of Amer- 
ica and its institutions, the spark of which 
already was deeply imbedded in her soul. 


CHAPTEE XVI 


THE LITTLE HERO OF THE VESLB 


Henri Eoy had been born and reared on 
the banks of the Eiver Vesle. He lived in a 
little stone farmhouse, and when the tide of 
Avar swept down and swirled about his 
humble home living became not only a peril, 
but a nightmare, twenty -four hours of the 
day. 

Though only thirteen, Henri was sturdy 
from working on the farm and swimming 
in the river, which he knew as well as he did 
the roads and the forests near his home. 

On the other side of the river were the 


180 


THE LITTLE HERO OF THE YESLE 


Germans, and over there a hot battle had 
been fought with the Americans, who, greatly 
outnumbered, had been obliged to retire to 
the west bank of the river over pontoon 
bridges that the engineers had hastily 
thrown across the stream. As the soldiers 
crossed, the Germans forced their way up 
and rained shot and shell on the river and 
the opposite shore. The temporary bridge 
was quickly destroyed, and many men were 
obliged to swim across. Not all of these 
got across, and, when the river was cleared 
of men, the Huns elevated their fire to sweep 
the lines back beyond the river for miles. 

The American troops dug themselves in 
behind the western river bank and fought 
the foe back with their accurate rifie and 
machine-gun fire, thus keeping the bank on 
the eastern side free of the enemy, though 
the Huns were slowly working their way to- 
ward that bank for a long distance to the 
right and the left. 

Suddenly a shout went up from the Amer- 
ican lines. Slowly, laboriously, and with 


181 


LITTLE SOLDIERS OF FRANCE 


great effort, a man was seen crawling down 
the river bank on the opposite side. He 
wore an American uniform and it was soon 
discovered that he was an officer. Rolling, 
where the bank was steep enough, he finally 
reached the river’s edge. The doughboys 
thought he was going to try to swim, and 
they shouted to him not to do so, fearing 
that he was so badly wounded that he would 
not be able to get across. Whether or not 
he heard the warning they did not know, but 
the officer finally crawled behind a clump of 
bushes and lay down. 

The wounded officer was reasonably safe 
there, as the enemy fire was quite a distance 
above his head, but it might not be long be- 
fore the enemy would discover him and then 
the end would be swift and sure. American 
soldiers were eager to swim out to the res- 
cue of the wounded man, but this was for- 
bidden, as it was not believed any man could 
live out there long enough to reach the other 
side, whereat the American boys growled 
long and deep. Later on, when darkness 


182 


THE LITTLE HEKO OF THE VESLE 

f 

fell, if the officer were still alive men would 
go to his rescue, but not yet. 

To the northward a short distance, a slug- 
gish stream flowed lazily through a cut in 
the bluff on the western side and on into the 
river. Long rank grass and a heavy growth 
of bushes hung over the stream, almost hid- 
ing it from view. It was the same stream 
that flowed past the home of Henri Koy, in 
which he had Ashed and paddled for ten 
years. 

It was from this stream that the Ameri- 
can soldiers saw the end of a plank emerge 
into the river, the outer end of the plank 
standing up almost as if the other end were 
anchored at the bottom. Then, as it floated 
out, the tow head and bare brown shoulders 
of Henri Eoy appeared, clinging to the rear 
end of the plank. He was paddling with 
his hands and kicking with his feet, and 
the little fellow was making quite rapid 
progress, steering his course straight across 
the river. 

Henri, determined to see all that was go- 
183 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FRAISTCE 


ing on, had been hiding in the stream and 
had observed with wide eyes the approach 
of the wounded officer to the shore of the 
river. When he saw that no move was be- 
ing made toward rescuing the man from 
his serious predicament, a sudden resolve 
entered the mind of the little lad. He 
had no fears, so far as the river was con- 
cerned, and the fires of patriotism, fiaming 
in his soul, spurred him on to do great 
things. 

Henri knew where a good stout plank was 
hidden under the grass and bushes, for he 
had paddled on it, sunned himself on it, 
while floating out on the river, many, many 
times. 

will go get him,” announced the boy to 
himself, as if it were a trivial matter. 
Stripping off his jacket and his wooden 
shoes he began pushing the plank ahead of 
him until the water grew too deep to walk. 
It did not seem to Henri that he was per- 
forming a desperately heroic deed. His one 
thought was for the brave American on the 


184 


THE LITTLE HEKO OF THE VESLE 


other side of the river who, if he were not 
rescued, soon would fall a victim to the 
Boches. 

As he pushed out into the river and they 
saw what he was trying to do, the dough- 
boys gasped. They would have cheered, but 
it was not prudent to do so, and might be 
the means of bringing sure death upon him. 
The rushing whine of shells was heard over 
his head. Shells whimpered and screeched 
and crashed and banged, while a trench 
mortar bomb sailed slowly overhead, cry- 
ing ^^whuh-wheesh ! whuh-wheesh !” More 
sinister even than these was the machine 
guns’ ^^rum-tum-tum ! rum-tum-tum! rum- 
tum-tum !” from both sides of the river. It 
was a wild scene, and the air was full of un- 
seen deadly things that at any second might 
put an end to the little tow-headed boy, as 
they were doing every minute to brave men 
on the'western side of the Kiver Yesle. 

German machine-gun fire was directed at 
the boy in the river, but when about half way 
over he was protected by the banks on the 

185 


LITTLE SOLDIEES OF FKAIS^CE 


east side. Still the doughboys held their en- 
thusiasm in check. They saw the boy shove 
his plank up on the opposite beach, saw him 
run to where the American was lying, and 
a few moments later saw him assist the 
wounded man to the plank. It was then 
that they understood the little fellow’s plan 
of action. 

^^He never will make it,” groaned man 
after man. 

It was with great effort that Henri finally 
got the officer placed on the plank, the 
wounded man fiat on his stomach with arms 
hanging over. Then the lad shoved' the 
plank out into the stream, walking behind 
it until the water was too deep for him to 
keep his footing, whereupon Henri, giving 
the plank a final shove, plunged in, caught 
up with it and began pushing with his hands 
while his feet worked like a paddle wheel. 

They reached the middle of the stream 
and then the deadly ^^rum-tum-tum!” of 
the Hun machine guns began again. The 
waters, under fire, reminded Henri of a rainy 

186 


THE LITTLE HEKO OF THE VESLE 


day when raindrops splashing into the river 
sent up little white geysers of water. The 
river was ^^pimply’’ all about them, and 
.through this sea of ^^pimples’’ boy and plank 
and passenger pushed their way. It did not 
seem possible that any living thing could 
last a second in that storm. 

As they neared the western bank the ob- 
servers noted some confusion on the one- 
plank raft. 

It was then that a group of soldiers, un- 
able to restrain themselves longer, ran 
splashing into the river and swam out to 
the raft, which they propelled rapidly to- 
ward the American lines. One man was 
killed and five were wounded before any of 
them reached the raft, but, once in the 
shelter of the bushes, they were in compara- 
tive safety. 

Henri, who had swum on behind them, 
crawled over to the bank and lay down un- 
der the bushes. They found him there a 
few minutes later, when they went back to 
look for him. He was naked from the waist 


187 


LITTLE SOLDIEKS OF FKANCE 


up and Ms body was covered with blood 
from a bullet wound in the shoulder. 
Henri had fainted from the loss of blood. 
He was carried back and his wounds were 
dressed in an emergency station. There he 
met the man he had rescued, a major of 
engineers, and when the two left the emer- 
gency station in the same ambulance, bound 
for the rear, the little tow-headed peasant 
boy wore two decorations that had been 
pinned on his blouse. One was the Amer- 
ican Distinguished Service Cross and the 
other was the French Croix de Guerre. 

That night the American engineers threw 
pontoon bridges across the Yesle while 
American artillery hammered the enemy. 
Thousands of Yankee troops swarmed 
across, and just before daylight they topped 
the ridge and went at the enemy with 
bayonet and bomb and routed him with 
great loss. 

Henri’s home suffered some in this battle, 
but it was still standing when he finally re- 
turned from his stay in the hospital. He 


188 


THE LITTLE HEKO OF THE VESLE 


took up tke routine of his work on the hanks 
of the Yesle (now so quiet, for the Huns had 
been driven far back) and plodded along, 
just as he had been doing before the war. 
Henri’s pride in the two decorations that 
hung framed in his home grew as the days 
passed, a pride that would continue to grow 
as the years came and went and France 
slowly rc^se from the ruins wrought by the 
invading Huns, now driven out forever. 


189 


CHAPTEK XVII 


CONCLUSION 


Stories of tlie deeds of valor of the heroic 
Children of France have thrilled not only 
the French nation, where children always 
have held a high place in the affections of 
their elders, but, when generally known, will 
thrill the entire world. History records 
nothing like it. 

To suffer for their beloved France, to die 
for her, has been a sacred privilege to these 
youthful patriots, rather than a thing to be 
shunned and abhorred. It is believed that 
thousands of them have given up their lives 
for their country, either in performing a duty, 
or as victims of plain, unvarnished German 
cruelty. Xo French girl or boy ever has been 
found wanting in patriotism, in courage, 
when face to face with the supreme test. 

190 


CONCLUSION 


Such heroism, such devotion to country 
as these brave children have shown, should 
prove a shining object lesson to the boys of 
America, should prove an inspiration to 
them, a beacon light that will brighten the 
path of Liberty for them all through life, 
making them better Americans, more stead- 
fast in their patriotism and in their love for 
their country and its ideals. 


The End 


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191 















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